Air Products to Supply Gases to DuPont's New China Thin-Film PV Plant
Air Products will provide its SunSource Solutions liquid bulk and specialty gases, related gas distribution equipment, and engineering services to DuPont Apollo (Shenzhen) Ltd.'s new amorphous silicon thin-film PV facility.
Aaron Hand, Executive Editor -- PV Society, 10/13/2009
Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.) has signed a turnkey gas supply contract to provide its SunSource Solutions liquid bulk and specialty gases, related gas distribution equipment, and engineering services to DuPont Apollo (Shenzhen) Ltd. at its new amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film photovoltaic facility in Shenzhen, China.
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DuPont has contracted to receive Air Products' turnkey gas supply at its facility in Shenzhen, China, to manufacture thin-film PV panels, such as those shown here manufactured with Air Products materials. |
Air Products has installed complete gas distribution systems from its source containers to the point of use within DuPont's Shenzhen facility. The contract includes the long-term supply of nitrogen, hydrogen, argon, oxygen and specialty gases, such as silane, as well as phosphine mixtures and other dopant gases.
DuPont has primarily supplied PV materials to the crystalline silicon cell and module markets, but is making inroads into the a-Si thin-film PV market with a new research center in Hong Kong and a manufacturing facility in Shenzhen.
"Air Products is very excited to be working with DuPont. We believe our expertise and complete turnkey offerings will enable a fast ramp to meet DuPont's growth plans," said Corning Painter, Air Products' vice president and general manager, Global Electronics Division. The gas supplier's involvement in the semiconductor and TFT-LCD industries enables it to help PV customers to reach grid parity sooner, he added.
