Photovoltech plans to boost solar production to 140MW

Belgium's Photovoltech opened a new production line today that boosted its capacity to 80 megawatts per year from 20 MW, but the company is already aiming higher.

Photovoltech is owned by France's Total (NYSE: TOT) and Suez (OTC: SZEZY), and Belgium's Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center, or Imec.

The company said it plans to invest 45 million euros to further increase its production capacity to 140 MW by 2009. Photovoltech said it spent 30 million euros for the upgrade to 80 MW.

"Ambitious photovoltaic solar energy plans are critical for the planet," said Christophe de Margerie, CEO of Total.

"Photovoltech is one of the pillars on which we intend to build a world-class business across the entire photovoltaic solar energy chain."

Photovoltech said that there is a strong growth outlook for solar energy in Europe, and that its increased photovoltaic cell production capacity is expected to give the company a 4 percent to 5 percent share of the global market in 2015.

"Renewable energies are a priority for Europe and for Suez," commented Gérard Mestrallet, chairman and CEO of Suez.

"They will help to respond to the key challenge of the future — delivering reliable, environmentally friendly, competitively-priced energy. Photovoltech's solar energy expertise is an invaluable asset for our group."

Photovoltech was created in December 2001, with Total and Suez each holding 47.8 percent today, and Imec owning 4.4 percent.

The company's photovoltaic cells are manufactured using technology developed at Imec.