South Korean heavy industrial construction company Hyundai Heavy Industries and the world's largest construction material producer France-based Saint-Gobain have teamed up to build South Korea's largest thin-film solar cell factory.
According to a Hyundai Heavy statement, a ceremony was held for the contract signing on October 8 in Paris with the presence of Hyundai Heavy Industries chairman and CEO Min Keh-sik and Saint-Gobain chairman Pierre-Andre de Chalendar.
Under the contract, the partners will each invest 50 percent of KRW 220 billion ($194.5 million) for the solar cell factory. Construction will start in December 2010 and is scheduled to be completed by the first half of 2012.
Upon completion, the solar cell factory will have an annual production capacity of 100 MW solar cells.
The plant is a step toward Hyundai Heavy Industries' target of being in the top five global solar power producers by 2015 by reaching an annual capacity of 400 MW, Hyundai Heavy Industries said, adding that the new plant will also make the company the sole South Korean company that can produce both thin-film and crystalline solar cells.