"We chose to invest in Oerlikon Solar's Micromorph® technology because Micromorph enables 30% higher module power than other thin-film silicon technologies, and offers lower module manufacturing costs," says Ma Wenxue, General Manager of Tianwei.

Oerlikon Solar says it has achieved more than 50% reduction in cost of ownership since 2008. The company is on track to achieve US$0.70/W by the end of 2010 with further reduction potential.

"With Oerlikon Solar as our continued partner, we trust to reach completion of our planned capacity expansion projects on schedule enabling us to provide higher-quality products with superior module efficiency resulting in lowest cost of electricity. The upgrade will start in January 2011 and will be finalised and ready for mass production by March 2011", adds Ma from Tianwei.