The production capacity at the Italian factory, located in the Puglia region, will be 50 MW per year. The grants were announced by the Puglia region, along with the Italian Ministry for Economic Development (MISE) and Italy’s investment institution Invitalia.
“We are very happy to receive these very advantageous grants” said Sven Lindström, CEO of Midsummer. “We will tenfold our maximum production capacity and the finished factory will make Midsummer the largest producer of thinfilm solar cells in Europe.”
Midsummer has already purchased a plant in Bari in southern Italy and can now proceed with the purchase of equipment, including several of the company's own DUO machines, recruitment of staff in both Italy and Sweden, etc. The factory is expected to commence production in the summer of 2022.
The entire project is an investment of approximately 66 million euros, of which Midsummer receives approximately 35 percent in grants and approximately 23 percent in ‘soft loans’ from the Italian state via its investment arm Invitalia.
Midsummer's Italian factory and its grants and loans is the first Swedish project to be included in Italy's 'Recovery and Resilience plan', which covers a total of just over 190 billion euros from the EU.
The decision was announced just after a visit to Italy by a large Swedish trade delegation, in which Midsummer took part. Other members of the delegation were Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel, Sweden's Minister for Foreign Trade and Nordic Affairs Anna Hallberg and Sweden's Ambassador to Italy Jan Björklund.
Demand for Midsummer's thin, discreet and environmentally friendly solar roofs is very strong in the Nordics, with an increase in order intake for the third quarter of 500 percent. The solar cell roofs manufactured in Italy will be sold to customers in mainly southern Europe.
The wholly owned subsidiary Midsummer Italia will own and operate the factory and, at an initial stage, order a number of DUOs from its parent company for the production of solar cells.
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