Jan.9, 2008 – Following a year culminating in site selection and funding for a planned 100MW thin-film photovoltaic solar module manufacturing facility, California solar firm XsunX’s priorities in 2008 are establishing baseline production and pushing R&D to enhance deposition methods and reduce manufacturing costs.

“With our plan and initial financing commitment now in place, the majority of our operations for the 2008 period and the foreseeable future thereafter, will focus on establishing and expanding facilities necessary to manufacture our TFPV solar modules for commercial sale,” according to CEO Tom Djokovich, in a statement.

Areas of specific focus and capex in 2008 include four areas:

– lease/preparation of facilities housing the first of four proposed 25MW manufacturing lines;
– Establishing a baseline production system for full-size (100x160cm) sample modules;
– Placing orders for core and subsystem components to start building the first 25MW production line;
– Continuing R&D to establish solar cell deposition methods and reduce manufacturing costs.

In just the past couple of months, XsunX has narrowed site selection for its planned 100MW thin-film photovoltaic solar module manufacturing facility to somewhere in Oregon, and finalized a $21M equity financing commitment to support its initial operations up to the first 25MW of solar module manufacturing capacity. Initial manufacturing line after a first phase of its new facility would produce ~17,000 solar modules in 2008, and planned completion of the full 100MW production facilities in 2009 would ramp to 950,000 modules annually.

XsunX execs had earlier noted that equipment inquiries will start with long-leadtime items like deposition tools and laser systems, in an effort to insulate against a projected shortfall with infrastructure for thin-film module manufacturing facilities. For example, the firm is negotiating exclusive contracts for plasma deposition systems, for example, to support up to 500MW of plasma chamber deliveries over five years.