French solar equipment provider advertises totally automated manufacturing line – pv journal Worldwide
Startup Solean claims that its new fully automated production facilities offer a highly flexible way to bring platemaking back to Europe.
May 8, 2020
Of pv magazine France
The Covid-19 health crisis highlighted a number of weaknesses in European industry, including in the solar sector, which is heavily dependent on solar cells and modules made in Asia.
However, Claude Jacquot and Arnaud Goy, the founders of the French solar manufacturing startup Solean, claim their fully automated production lines can bring solar manufacturing back to its European roots – for small producers. at least.
"There are a lot of small manufacturers who have only one production line, often manual or semi-automatic, and who have to shift up a gear," said Jacquot pv magazine. "They don't have the resources to set up factories with extreme capacity, they need agile and flexible tools that can automate bespoke production."
The Solean founders said their production line is also ideal for manufacturers who make building-integrated PV modules with complex structures or designs. "In this segment, the severe shape and size constraints that existing manufacturing facilities cannot accommodate do not allow panels to be made at fair prices," said Goy. "However, this market is in full swing."
Vehicle-integrated PV (VIPV) is another example, according to the Solean duo. "Our equipment offers the possibility to manufacture different panels – for roofs, facades, cars or buses … and to automate this adjustment at an acceptable cost," say the co-founders. "We want to assemble the 'non-assemblable'."
In the past few weeks, Solean has been the subject of many inquiries: Goy emphasized that interest in its technology is growing, although the various components of the assembly unit are not yet all completed.
Partnership with Photowatt
For the development of its mounting solution, Solean is cooperating with the French module manufacturer Photowatt, a 100% subsidiary of the energy giant EDF, as part of the European PV Impact project. This project, launched in April 2019 and funded by the Horizon 2020 program, brings together experts from industry and research to strengthen the European solar sector. One of the challenges is to improve the power tools for making solar modules.
Photowatt is an important player in the PV Impact project and supports the start-up by providing some of its know-how and technical support for the optimization of devices and processes. "Photowatt provides its know-how, while startups like us are valuable sources of ideas and innovations," said the co-founders of Solean.
Solean's assembly solution is a modular line based on three sub-units: a stringer, an assembly line and a laminator. The stringer, which can work independently, should be ready in the fall. The stringer demonstrator will be available in June, announced Jacquot and Goy.
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