IFC invests $136M in Chinese thin-film silicon maker

Hebei, China-based International Finance Corp. (IFC) plans to invest $136 million in Chinese thin film developer ENN Solar Group.

ENN plans to use the money to build its first thin-film amorphous silicon production line for 60 megawatts of solar panels a year. The company later plans to expand to 500 MW of capacity.

IFC is a member of The World Bank Group, which invests in developing countries. The investment is comprised of $15 million in equity, a $45 million loan from IFC, and $76 million in other loans coordinated by IFC.

In August, IFC invested $75 million in Russian polysilicon producer Nitol Solar (see Suntech closes Nitol Solar investment).

In August, the IFC encouraged investment into the $450 billion global water sector, citing its own $100 million fund, called IFC Infraventures, to provide risk capital for early stage development of infrastructure projects in the poorest countries (see IFC sees big market for H2O). In late 2005, IFC invested $3 million to supply fuel cells to remote areas of South Africa (see Plug Power sells 120 fuel cell power systems in South Africa).

ENN Solar is part of the XinAo Group, a natural gas company that entered the solar market in November 2007 when it bought production equipment from Santa Clara, Calif.'s Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT).

The IFC said the equipment is still being installed. Commercial production is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2009.

Manufacturers such as Applied Materials and Switzerland's Oerlikon Solar (VTX: OERL.VX) sell turn-key production lines for amorphous thin-film silicon
panels that mimic the low-cost mass production that fueled the growth of the semiconductor industry (see Oerlikon aims to streamline thin-film solar).

In October, Menlo Park, Calif.-based Signet Solar became the first company to enter volume production on a thin-film line by Applied (see Applied thin-film line reaches commercial production).

The value of manufacturing equipment purchased by thin-film photovoltaic and organic PV firms is projected to grow from $450 million in 2008 to $4.8 billion in 2015, according to a report from research firm NanoMarkets. 

Thin film companies are also attracting massive amounts of investment. 

In the third quarter of 2008, thin-film solar makers pulled in $620 million, with the majority going to technology using alternatives to silicon (see Cleantech investment breaks all-time record).

In August, San Jose, Calif.-based Nanosolar said it raised $300 million in equity, while Santa Clara, Calif.-based Miasole is reportedly in the process of raising more than $200 million to ramp production of its thin-film technology (see Nanosolar grabs $300 million for utility solar)

Hayward, Calif.-based Optisolar has raised more than $130 million this year. In July, Berlin-based Sulfurcell Solartechnik raised $134 million (see Thin film pulls in a crowd), and, in October 2007, Austin, Texas-based Heliovolt closed a $101 million round (see HelioVolt boosts Series B to $101M).

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