Meyer Burger nabs PV wafer wire-saw deal with Chinese Konca Solar

08 September 2008

Meyer Burger has signed a follow-up contract worth more than CHF 30 million ($26.5 million) with Konca Solar (Wixi) to deliver advanced wire-saw equipment used in the manufacturing of high-quality solar wafers. The Swiss company says it will deliver the tools in stages, with the first shipment scheduled for the first half of 2009 and the remaining equipment to arrive at the Chinese wafer manufacturer in the second half of the year.

With plans to expand its production capacity from its current level of 135 MW to 300 MW in 2009, Konca has also agreed to an option for Meyer Burger wire saws worth another CHF 30 million. Konca and Meyer Burger's relationship goes back to June 2005, when the two companies inked their first wire-saw deal. The tool company has supplied numerous wafer-cutting systems to the Chinese firm over the course of their relationship. 

In July, Meyer Burger announced that another Chinese silicon-wafer manufacturer, ReneSola, had signed a follow-on order for advanced thin-wafer wire-saws worth CHF 60 million ($53 million), with deliveries scheduled starting in mid-2008 and running throughout 2009. The Swiss company says its slurry-fed DS 264 tool can cut wafers down to a thickness of 180 μm.