$5.2 Million Invested! French Glass Maker Alliverre To Build Photovoltaic Glass Production Plant
May 23, 2022
At The Smarter E Europe held in Munich, Germany, Moez Ben Amar, general manager of French glass manufacturer Alliaverre, told the industry media that the company plans to open its French headquarters at the end of this year or early next year. A photovoltaic glass factory is built in Amiens, where it is located. This move shows that the trend of asset migration in the French photovoltaic industry continues.
And Alliaverre currently produces glass under an OEM contract with South Asian Industrial Interest Group.
"With manufacturing and delivery times currently 10 to 12 weeks, our customers have time to mobilize a lot of cash," Amar said. "Also, ocean freight rates have increased 10-fold since the onset of the Covid-19 crisis."
To overcome these constraints, the new automated photovoltaic glass production plant will produce 50MW per month or 600MW per year of photovoltaic-grade glass, he noted. Its products will cover three market segments: 2mm glass for the production of glass modules, 3.2mm glass for conventional modules, and photovoltaic tiles.
Forming of flat glass will be handled by cutting, coating and tempering glass.
"We have a large inventory of large flat glass panels in France, which will allow us to reduce the processing and delivery time of photovoltaic glass to less than two weeks," Amar said.
The company is currently completing a €5 million ($5.2 million) investment in partnership with a French investment fund. It also relies on regional aid to build new production facilities to offset some of the additional manufacturing costs in Europe, which are currently about 30% higher than in Asia.
Alliaverre's original business was the production of mirrors. The company was founded in France in 2005 and entered the photovoltaic glass market in 2014. Alliaverre works with clients such as Systovi and is currently in the testing and pre-qualification phase of other manufacturers such as Reco Sillia or Voltec Solar. The company also has an R&D partnership with South Korea's Q-Cells. In Europe, Alliaverre's largest market is Germany, followed by Italy and Poland.
