Air Products to supply Malaysia's PV market with turnkey contract

LEHIGH VALLEY, USA: Air Products has signed a contract with a leading global photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer in Malaysia for the company's SunSource Solutions gases, equipment and services.

The turnkey gas supply contract includes bulk and specialty gases, specialty chemicals, and related gas distribution equipment to support the customer's new crystalline PV facility in Melaka, Malaysia. This contract further strengthens Air Products' worldwide PV industry supply position with one of the leading producers.

The contract includes the long-term supply of on-site nitrogen, hydrogen, argon and oxygen, specialty gases such as silane, ammonia and nitrogen trifluoride.

The Melaka solar cell manufacturing plant aims to reach a capacity of more than 1 Gigawatt of cells per year by 2012. Listed on the US Nasdaq, the customer designs, manufactures and installs high-efficiency crystalline solar module technology worldwide. The company owns and operates two other PV plants in the Philippines and is headquartered, along with its research and development facility, in San Jose.

"Air Products is very excited to be the gas supplier of a leader in crystalline photovoltaics which represents the highest efficiency, high volume photovoltaic technology. The Malaysia PV plant will be a core element of the customer's technology and manufacturing roadmap to achieve lower cost and reach the goal of grid parity," said Corning Painter, vice president and general manager, Global Electronics, Air Products.

"Air Products is committed to developing alternative energy markets. Our expertise and complete turnkey offerings help our customers around the world reduce cost per watt and achieve a fast ramp-up."

As a leading electronics materials supplier, Air Products is strategically positioned to meet the demands of the rapidly expanding worldwide photovoltaics market. The company's SunSource Solutions are used in all of the different PV technologies by established and start-up producers alike.

Air Products' long-standing history serving the semiconductor and thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) industries since their inception makes it ideally suited to support its customers' drive to grid parity―the point where electricity generated by PV is equivalent in cost to traditional power company-supplied electricity.

With the demand for renewable energy and improved efficiency on the rise, Air Products is well positioned to support these developing markets with its expertise and project experience in areas including large-scale hydrogen supply for cleaner transportation fuels, developmental work on the hydrogen economy, hydrogen vehicle fuelling and infrastructure, leading natural gas liquefaction technology, and now the growing supply of gases and services for the photovoltaic industry.