Enel Green Power has kicked off the factory conversion project 3SUN to the industrial site in Catania to become the first plant in the world to exclusively produce the double-sided photovoltaic panel HJT type, based on heterojunction technology (the junction of two different types of silicon, amorphous and crystalline) with particularly high performance.
The development plan of the factory, called "3SUN 2.0", was presented on Friday by the Head of Enel Green Power, Antonio Cammisecra, in the presence of the President of Enel, Patrizia Greek and the Head of 3SUN, Antonello Hyrax.
The technological reconversion program of the 3SUN factory, the largest photovoltaic panel production plant in Europe, envisages an investment of over 80 million europartly funded by the European research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 European Call LCE-09- 2016-2017, through the "Ampere" project, by the Ministry of Economic Development and the Sicily Region.
The economic commitment on the factory is synergistically linked to the 20 million euro commitment destined for the Enel Innovation Lab where the company's specialist laboratories are located to experiment with innovative technologies in renewable sources.
“We are particularly proud of this project which is based on research and technological innovation, essential drivers for a company like Enel – declared the President of Enel, Patrizia Grieco – In an increasingly competitive and fast-paced global market, we are strong in a model based on open management, which is continuously enriched with stimuli and skills thanks also to the positive contamination with the external ecosystem. Right here in Catania we boast a virtuous example of the implementation of this philosophy, represented by the excellence of the 3SUN factory and its interaction with our Innovation Lab".
“The launch of this new photovoltaic technology represents not only a goal from the point of view of Italian technological excellence, but also the prerequisite for the relaunch of the 3SUN factory and the enhancement of the skills of its workers - declared Antonio Cammisecra, Head of Enel Green Power, Enel's Global Renewable Energy Division – Thanks to the new production line, we will be able to strengthen our global leadership in the renewable energy sector, while giving a decisive impetus to the expansion of our technological hub of Catania, proudly made here in Italy. We hope that this operation will be a stimulus for the entire Italian production chain in the sector and for photovoltaics in general".
"This factory has a history that comes from afar and which has always been characterized by a vocation for innovation - comments Enzo Bianco, Mayor of Catania - This history is confirmed and strengthened today thanks to Enel which will produce here, in our Catania, a technology able to compete with the best on the market. The investments made will allow the plant to grow and strategically position Italy in a crucial sector on a global level”.
In detail, the "3SUN 2.0" project is divided into three phases: the first, starting in the second quarter of 2018, involves the construction of a new crystalline cell assembly line for the production of panels with double-sided architecture, with a production capacity maximum of 80 MW/year. The second involves the installation of a new production line for HJT cells, operational since the first quarter of 2019, with a maximum production capacity of 110 MW/year. Finally, in the third phase, the production capacity of the HJT line will be doubled up to a level of 200 MW/year in the third quarter of 2019, which could reach 250 MW/year, with future optimisations. The factory will operate in a continuous cycle, 24 hours a day 365 days a year, and will see the production, at the end of the technological reconversion, of about 1.400 panels a day for a total of about 500 panels a year.
Thanks to the new investment, the Innovation Lab, which together with the 3SUN factory makes up Enel's Sicilian technological pole, will become a campus dedicated to innovation and an accelerator of youth entrepreneurship intended to stimulate research in the energy sector. It will host local and national start-ups, research centers of great national and international importance, will have connections with the world of innovation also through Enel's Innovation Hubs in order to constitute a meeting place for excellence in the field of innovative technologies.
