Bavarian company J.v.G. Thoma GmbH and Tunisian Green Panel Tech sign a joint venture agreement. PV module production will commence soon.

Tunis/Freystadt – The engineers from J.v.G. Thoma GmbH will soon be packing their suitcases and getting onto a plane again for second installation date. Their destination could be Tunisia, where the Bavaria-based company is currently in the process of installing a solar plant. Green Panel Tech and J.v.G. Thoma GmbH established Green panel technology Jurawatt Tunis SA in 2012 and production equipment deliveries are already delivered. First installation was done in April 2014.

Energy policy turnaround in North Africa: Tunisia breaks new ground
Demand for energy in Tunisia continues to grow the more developed its economy becomes. Yet the country’s own oil reserves are no longer sufficient to meet demand. That’s why Tunisia intends to develop renewable energies. It is ideally located and has the perfect climate for solar energy. The Plan Solaire Tunisia (PST) plays an important role, formulating the ambitious target of increasing the “renewables” quota from 1 percent in 2009 to 4.3 percent in 2014.

High tech, low effort: typical J.v.G.
The planned solar plant will be located in Tunis and manufacture J.v.G.’s desert modules, both in monocrystalline and multicrystalline versions. Desert modules, also called HPTP modules, have an extremely heat-resistant design (maximum constant temperature 125 °C), a high output, are 100 % PID free and have an extended lifespan. They range in size from 1x1 metres to 1x2 metres. Only a few personnel will be required to operate the planned high-tech plant. So the operator’s day-to-day production expenses will be minimal. How is that possible? The entire production line (mostly the former Jurawatt line) is fully automated, with washer, stringer, lay-up, EL tester, laminator, cooling, trim, frame, tape and flasher. And J.v.G. provides both the process and the module certifications.

Rome wasn’t built in a day: some of the project milestones
The construction of a PV module factory in Africa isn’t your everyday construction project, as you can well imagine. This kind of a project is a long-term undertaking for everyone involved. The project stakeholders first visited the construction site in November 2012. On 12 June 2013 Ludwig Thoma and Dr. Shadi Riad signed the contract and founded Jurawatt Tunis SA. The Tunisian company Green Panel Tech also concluded a marketing agreement with J.v.G. Thoma GmbH. In November 2013 the factory building was in place - albeit without a floor. In July 2013 the first production equipment was shipped out to Tunisia. Unfortunately and unforeseeably, a ship worker strike extended its journey to three months. In February 2014 a convoy of 6 trucks was sent to Jendouba. Finally, in April 2014, the J.v.G. engineers were able to install the equipment. Production is scheduled to commence at the end of May or early June 2014.