Oerlikon Sees Debut of New Solar Panel Equipment Range in Asia

OC Oerlikon Corp. AG said Asian solar panel makers will probably be the first to take up its thin-film silicon production line that can cut manufacturing costs by 50 percent.

Initial talks with potential customers went well, Chief Executive Michael Buscher said in a telephone interview from the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference in Valencia, Spain.

Oerlikon’s strategy contrasts with that of its main rival, Applied Materials Inc., which earlier this year abandoned an attempt to diversify into thin-film technology for making solar panels. Oerlikon has a good customer base and its technology is tried and tested, Buscher said.

“It’s highly likely that the first production lines will go to Asia,” Juerg Henz, head of Oerlikon’s solar unit, said in the same interview. “In Asia, we have customers with substance. They aren’t just capital-market-driven startups.”

Oerlikon aims to restore profitability to its solar division after a plunge in demand. The new machine, which cuts manufacturing costs to 50 euro cents (64 U.S. cents) per watt, is designed to take on crystalline silicon technology used in the production of solar panels, where production costs stand at about 1 euro per watt.

The Swiss company’s first-half orders for its thin-film module-making equipment dropped 98 percent to 11 million francs ($10 million). Buscher said he expects an increased order intake from next year as the new machine grabs market share.

Buscher reiterated the company forecasts a loss of 60 million francs in 2010 for the solar unit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Antonio Ligi in Zurich at aligi@bloomberg.net

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