October 11 (Renewables Now) - Swedish thin-film solar technology company Midsummer AB (STO:MIDS) will seek to expand its global production capabilities with an extra capacity of roughly 20 MW amid a broader plan that could scale up its manufacturing to 200 MW.

The company said on Monday that the expansion initiative is aligned with the sharp increase in demand for its products. At present, Midsummer is manufacturing thin-film cells for solar roofs at a 2-MW factory in Jarfalla, Sweden, where its headquarters is located and is preparing to open a 50-MW thin-film copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cell factory in Bari, Italy. The Italian site is due to open by the end of 2022 and will be the largest production facility for thin-film solar cells in Europe.

“Despite the fact that the factory in Italy has not yet started production, we see that demand is already swallowing up its capacity and we therefore want to increase capacity even more in Sweden,” said CEO Sven Lindstrom.

The Swedish firm already has in place a series of orders for the new plant’s future output with construction and roof manufacturing companies and will pursue similar contracts for its Swedish factory. Its long-term goal is to reach at least 1 GW of production capacity globally, which will be achieved through the construction of several mega factories.

“The market potential in Northern Europe is huge and demand for our products remains strong,” the CEO added.

In the third quarter, Midsummer booked record orders for its solar roof products, amounting to SEK 37.8 million (USD 3.3m/EUR 3.4m), up 63% in annual terms and 110% on the previous quarter.

(SEK 10 = USD 0.884/EUR 0.911)

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