Meyer Burger has secured a total of 2.5GW of MAiA 2.1 equipment delivery to an Asian customer. The delivery and commissioning of the project will start in the third quarter of 2015 and head into early 2016.

The 2.5GW contract values over CHF 38 million (approximately US$40.8 million), yet the real name of the customer is not revealed. In Asia, manufacturers which are able to produce 2.5GW of PERC solar cells are listed by PV Tech: Yingli Solar, which has 3.2GW of cell production capacity; Trina Solar, which is aiming to boost cell production from 3.1GW up to 4.1GW by 2015; JA Solar, which targets a 3.9GW cell production; JinkoSolar, which has only 2GW of cell capacity but achieves certain milestone with PERC module tests. Furthermore, Taiwan-based NSP and Motech are also developers of high-efficiency solar cells. Aside from the list, Hanwha SolarOne is another Asian PV cell manufacturer that has over 3GW of cell production capacity after it merged with Hanwha Q CELLS in 2014.

According to EnergyTrend’s data, Taiwan manufacturers currently share 49% of the global PERC production. REC shares 6%, Q-CELLS shares 9%, SolarWorld shares 16%, and other Chinese manufacturers cumulatively share 20%.

Meyer Burger noted, “the successful signing of an important contract with a leading Asian photovoltaic manufacturer,” “the MB PERC technology was selected by the customer to expand its production volume of high quality solar cells and support its increase delivery of solar modules in the PV market” in its announcement. Consequently, it is likely that the customer could be a manufacturer aiming to boost its high efficiency PV module market share.

In addition to the MAiA system platform, Meyer Burger will also provide comprehensive customer training and on-site support services as well as spare parts management at the customer’s internationally located manufacturing locations. The customer intends to begin production by the end of 2015 with the first equipment tools delivered.