Hyundai Heavy today took the first step in building Korea's biggest CIGS(copper, indium, gallium, selenide) thin-film solar cell plant.

The investment agreement signed with France’s Saint-Gobain and Chungcheongbuk-do is to build a 400 MW GIGS solar cell plant in Ochang Foreign Investment Zone, Chungcheongbuk-do , by 2015. Construction is scheduled to start from March 2011.

Upon completion, the 231,000 ㎡ solar cell plant will have four solar cell manufacturing buildings with an annual production capacity of 100 MW CIGS each and one administration office building.

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Last October, Hyundai Heavy and Saint-Gobain established the joint venture company Hyundai Avancis that can help to advance mass production of thin-film solar cells in the Korean market.

Kim Jung-rae, a senior executive vice president of Hyundai Heavy said “The new plant makes Hyundai Heavy the sole Korean company producing both thin-film and crystalline solar cells. Upon completion of the plant, we can achieve our target of being a Global Top 5 CIGS solar cell manufacturer by 2015.”

The new factory is also expected to have a positive effect on the economy of Chungcheongbuk-do by creating about 1,000 new jobs and boosting local tax revenues.

Source: Hyundai Heavy