Linde to help supply new Italian PV plant

Linde Gases, a division of The Linde Group, has been awarded the exclusive contract to supply high-purity gases to Italy’s first thin-film solar module manufacturing plant.

The Moncada Energy Group s.r.l. is building the plant in Campofranco (Sicily).

Linde Gas Italia will provide Moncada with turnkey installation of the plant’s bulk and specialty gases supply systems. On an ongoing basis, it will also deliver nitrogen, hydrogen, silane and chamber-cleaning gases that are essential to making thin-film solar cells.

Moncada’s thin-film photovoltaic (PV) plant is set to become fully operational in 2010. The facility will manufacture large, 5.7-square-metre, single-junction photovoltaic modules and is expected to have an annual output capacity of 40 megawatts.

“Moncada’s mission is to enable the environmentally friendly and cost-effective production and installation of solar panels,” said Salvatore Moncada, CEO and founder of Moncada Energy Group. “Linde’s proven technology expertise mirrors our ambition to quickly achieve grid parity in Italy.”