New ERSE laboratories for the APOLLON Project!

21 July, 2009

New ERSE laboratories for the APOLLON Project!

On Monday the 13th of July, ERSE and the Municipality of Piacenza have signed an important agreement for the construction of the new site of ERSE, in the frame of the new Research Technological Pole of infrastructures that will be installed in Piacenza. The new ERSE site will occupy about 6000 m2, 3000 m2 of which will be taken up by offices and laboratories. The first laboratories to be built will be those devoted to the large integrated APOLLON project. The ERSE laboratories will be equipped by clean rooms and infrastructures necessary for the multi-junction solar cell manufacturing. In particular a new advanced MOCVD system, whose growth chamber will be developed by AIXTRON and high resolution photolithographic equipments will be set up to reach the ambitious targets of the project. Apart the MJ solar cell development, which will constitute the more advanced activity of the laboratory, in the new site, laboratories for material and device characterisation, along with a test facility for testing the concentrating system (CPV) will find place. Therefore, the new ERSE laboratories will become a reference point for the education/formation of students on the concentrating photovoltaic technology, starting from the material science up to the characterization of CPV systems and it will be an opportunity to start synergic activities on technological transfer of new processes to the solar cell industry. ERSE will invest more than 2 Million Euros for the new sites while the Piacenza Municipality will contribute with a similar amount for a total investment of 5 Million Euros. We are proud to say that the APOLLON project has been the propulsion of this initiative: thanks to the APOLLON project a new research centre on advanced photovoltaic will operate to increase the level of commitment in Europe on the development of sustainable and renewable energy technologies.

Piacenza the 14th of July