The modern and custom-made laminator has two lamination chambers in two floors, as large and twice as heavy as a double-decker bus. It weighs 31 tonnes plus 19 tonnes of peripheral equipment (vacuum pumps, oil pumps and conveyor belts).

See attached images.

The lamination area of each chamber is 1700 x 6500 mm, which gives a total lamination area of 2 x 1700 x 6500 = 22.1 m2 per cycle. Each cycle takes 14 minutes, enabling a potential lamination capacity of 1.6 square meters of solar panels per minute.

As comparison, Midsummer's existing laminator in Järfälla, Sweden has a laminating surface of 5.85 m2/cycle. With 20 minutes per cycle, it gives a theoretical capacity of 0.29 square meters of solar panels per minute.

The laminator is shipped directly from the manufacturer to Midsummer Italia in Bari by boat. It is expected to arrive on August 7.

“With funds from our recent share rights issue we can now accelerate the completion of the factory in Bari so that it starts producing solar panels for all our existing and new customers as soon as possible,” said Midsummer's CEO Sven Lindström.

Key function in the production of durable thin film solar cells

The laminator has a key function in the production process of thin film solar cells. It encapsulates the solar cells with a plastic material that holds the cells in place and protects them against the forces of the weather and physical impact.

Midsummer's solar panels are considerably more durable than silicon panels with brittle glass casings. They withstand higher weight, withstand being stepped on and withstand impact such as hail (and even shrapnel as demonstrated by the mobile solar chargers that Midsummer donated to the Ukrainian army). They are also significantly more resistant to problems with cracking/microcracking compared to silicon. Cracking/microcracking can occur when the cells are subjected to pressure, vibration or bending.

Midsummer has previously delivered five DUO machines to its subsidiary Midsummer Italia in Bari out of the eleven planned for full production capacity. At full operation, the factory can produce 50 MW of solar cells per year, making it the largest of its kind in Europe.

Read more about Midsummer’s solar cell production here.

In other news from Italy, Midsummer Italia has hired Maria Andersson as HR specialist to handle the upcoming recruitment which now commences and will eventually include 80 employees from management staff to operators.

With Bari as her base, Maria Andersson has for 14 years been active in various areas, such as HR and sales, and worked for companies such as Natuzzi, Lanit-Tercom and Desa. Before that, she worked in Spain at Huawei technologies and Banesto, as well as in Sweden for e.g. Göteborgs spårvägar, Stena Stål och Stena Line. Maria has a degree in economics from Linköping University.

Large investments in production equipment and factories

Midsummer's thin-film solar cells are light, flexible and with an ultra-low climate footprint. Swedish and international industry players have shown great interest in buying the company's future production and letters of intent for more than 700 MW of solar cells have already been signed, mainly from the factory in Sweden that Midsummer hopes to start building shortly.

Midsummer Italia has already signed agreements for a third of the Italian factory's maximum production capacity with three national players in construction and roofing. For the construction of the factory in Italy, Midsummer receives a grant from the Italian state totaling approximately SEK 240 million, of which approximately SEK 75 million has already been paid out.

“In addition to these funds, 85 percent of the net proceeds from the share rights issue will be channeled to the production of DUO machines, other manufacturing equipment and the adaptation of factory facilities mainly in Bari but also in Järfälla where we want to double our production capacity. These are healthy investments that will pay back,” concludes Sven Lindström.

Links to images and other press material: Press – Midsummer.

For additional information contact:

Peter Karaszi
Head of Communications, Midsummer
Email: peter.karaszi@midsummer.se
Tel: + 46 70 341 46 53

About Midsummer
Midsummer is a Swedish solar energy company that develops, manufactures and sells solar cells to construction, roofing and solar cell installation companies and also manufactures, sells and installs solar roofs directly to end customers. The company also develops and sells equipment for the production of flexible thin film solar cells to strategically selected partners and machinery for research. The solar cells are of CIGS technology (consist of copper, indium, gallium and selenide) and are thin, light, flexible, discreet and with a minimal carbon footprint compared with other solar panels.

The solar roofs are produced in Sweden using the company’s own unique DUO system which has taken the position as the most widespread manufacturing tool for flexible CIGS solar cells in the world. The Company’s shares (MIDS) are traded on Nasdaq First North Growth Market with G&W Fondkommission as Certified Adviser. For more information, please visit: midsummer.se