Dec 23 2010
AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. ("AMG," EURONEXT AMSTERDAM: "AMG") and BP Solar International Inc. ("BP Solar") announced that AMG has acquired intellectual property and manufacturing assets related to the "Mono2™" suite of solar casting technologies from BP Solar.
Mono2™ is a proprietary process whereby high-efficiency monocrystalline-like silicon ingots are produced utilizing standard SCU furnaces using a variety of feedstock including polysilicon and upgraded metallurgical silicon.
The Mono2™ technology was developed by BP Solar in cooperation with the United States Department of Energy and will be integrated into AMG's Engineering Systems Division's (ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH, ("ALD")) ALD SCU400plus and SCU600plus solar melting and crystallization vacuum furnaces. With a global installed capacity of over 3.5 GW peak or the equivalent of over 500 ALD SCU furnaces, AMG is recognized as a leading technology provider to the solar wafer industry. This transaction strengthens AMG's solar technology portfolio and also significantly expands AMG's presence in the United States, a solar market which is expected to grow substantially over the next several years.
In addition to acquiring intellectual property and equipment, an experienced team of scientists and engineers with significant expertise in silicon casting were transferred to AMG. AMG will continue research and development activities, using manufacturing operations at the BP Solar facility in Frederick, Maryland USA.
The proven Mono2™ technology uses a monocrystalline silicon substrate to facilitate the growth of polysilicon material with monocrystalline-like structures. These monocrystalline-like silicon ingots serve as the base material to produce low-cost, high efficiency solar cells. Mono2™ is expected to increase the efficiency of cells produced from ALD's SCU systems to above 17% at a competitive cost. The initial test ingots utilizing Mono2™ are expected to be produced in early 2011, with Mono2™ integrated furnace deliveries expected in the second half of 2011.
"The Mono2™ intellectual property combined with AMG's latest generation SCU furnaces will enable AMG to offer the most advanced integrated solar melting and crystallization technology and capital equipment product in the market", stated Dr. Heinz Schimmelbusch, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of AMG.
BP Solar will concentrate its research and development activities on customer- focused product/system integration initiatives and intellectual property to enhance BP Solar's cell and module products according to Mike Petrucci, President and CEO of BP Solar. In the balance of systems area, the company is aggressively expanding efforts to deliver advantage in power output, reliability, power management and streamlining the entire system implementation procedure- thereby further extending the life of BP Solar systems.
"We are pleased that this transaction of the Mono2™ technology with AMG will speed the availability of innovative solar cell technology to the market," said Petrucci. "Our objective is to leverage the work performed by BP Solar for the benefit of not only our company, but the entire sector," he said.