Karpat Solar to launch Romania’s first PV module factory

Romania-based Karpat Solar has purchased a production line for photovoltaic solar modules in a move to establish the first module factory in Romania.

Karpat Solar has signed an agreement with Spain’s automation and assembly solutions provider Mondragon Assembly to supply a production line for photovoltaic solar modules with a capacity of 100 MW per year.

A solar panel contains one or more solar modules which consist of solar cells connected in series of parallel circuits.

The production is intended for Romania, but also for the EU market

According to Mandragon Assembly, Karpat Solar, which has facilities in Transylvania, has the ambition to become the first module manufacturer in Romania. The 100 MW in modules is the first phase of a large-scale project that will initially secure the production for the local market, but with an ambition to expand in the European Union.

Csömör Károly, CEO of Karpat Solar, says he expects the capacities to be in full production before summer. It will allow the company to tackle the Romanian market in autumn 2021, in the first phase, he said.

Currently, the use of renewable energy is growing exponentially in Romania and the firm intends to make a “small contribution,” according to Károly. Karpat Solar will locally manufacture high-efficiency modules under the strictest quality parameters, he claimed.

Romania has 1.4 GW in installed solar capacity. In early March, S.C. West Power Investment Srl announced a plan to install a 700 MW solar power plant, which could be the largest in the country.

Several module manufacturing projects will come online in Europe in 2021

Igor Herrarte, international sales manager at Mondragon Assembly, said that in 2021 several module manufacturing projects would come online in Europe. They will differ both in size and in manufactured products, and technological diversification is expected, in his words.

“In addition to the standard modules, we will see companies launching modules for HJT, BIPV and other niche products suited to European demand, where Mondragon Assembly has the solution for all those new technologies,” Herrarte added.