WORLD
Hevel Solar opens USD-321m thin-film PV factory in Russia
Baku, February 18 AZERTAC
Russian photovoltaics (PV) firm Hevel Solar LLC has started commercial operations at a new RUB-20-billion (USD 321m/EUR 281m) thin-film solar module production facility in Novocheboksarsk, to the east of Moscow.
The modules produced at the plant will be used mainly to bring power to people in remote areas, according to a press release on Tuesday. Hevel pointed out that there is room for improvement of thin-film technology and it is already involved in such research and development (R&D) activities at the Science and Technology Center, opened three years ago at the Ioffe Physical Technical Institute in St Petersburg.
Hevel operates as a joint venture between local asset management group Renova and nanotechnology firm Rusnano Corp. In September it commissioned a 5-MW solar farm in Kosh-Agach, touted as the first in Russia’s Altai Republic, and has plans for several other projects.
The solar company aims to build 500 MW of large-scale PV in Russia by 2020.