Linde tapped for Bosch Solar manufacturing site in Germany

Pullach, Germany-based solar gas supplier Linde Nippon Sanso said it has been awarded a long-term contract to supply its specialty gases to Bosch Solar’s new solar manufacturing site near Erfurt, Germany.

Linde Nippon Sanso is a joint venture between The Linde Group of Germany and Japan’s Taiyo Nippon Sanso, two major global industrial gas companies.

According to the contract, Linde Nippon Sanso plans to provide high purity nitrogen from an on-site air separation unit and bulk oxygen. Financial details were not disclosed.

Bosch Solar, a division of the Bosch Group, makes crystalline silicon solar cells at its German manufacturing site, formerly called ersol which it acquired last year from Erfurt, Germany-based ersol Solar Energy (see Bosch’s €546.4 million bid for ersol).

Bosch is expanding the site with €530 million ($797 million), constructing a new facility to make its solar cells, which is being partly funded by the European Union, according to a news release. The facility, inaugurated in March, is expected to reach a capacity of 630 megawatt peak when ramped to its full potential.

Linde supplies gases and chemicals to crystalline and thin-film solar photovoltaic module manufacturers in Germany, Spain, Italy, China, Taiwan, and India. It’s also already established as a material supplier in the Erfurt area.