Swiss Firm to Produce Solar Panels in Hungary

Flisom, a developer and manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) thin film solar cells, located near Zurich, Switzerland, has chosen Kecskemét, southeast of Budapest for the location of its first plant of industrial capacity. The Swiss technology company is going to produce ultra-thin, light and flexible solar cells using the most modern technology available.

The 50 MW plant, which will be built by an investment worth approximately EUR 40 million, is going to serve the rapidly growing market demands, while also creating 140 new jobs. The Hungarian government is to provide a cash subsidy of about EUR 11 million, some 28% of the investment costs.

Flisom AG was established by the Laboratory of Solid State Physics of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETH Zurich) in 2005. The company’s industry-leading product is eFilm, which is essentially a ‘solar cell film’ in which the solar panels are already ‘printed’ on an ultra-thin layer of plastic film. As the market leader in Switzerland, Flisom uses proprietary technology to design flexible solar panels for production that are 98% lighter than the others available on the market. These light and flexible panels can be applied to different surfaces due to their nature, such as lightweight roofs, building facades or other curved surfaces. Therefore, their solar cells are used in the construction, automotive, aviation and space industries, among others.

In a video message played at the announcement of the investment, Flisom CEO Rahul Budhwar stated that Hungary and Kecskemét were chosen from among the possible locations around the world because of the outstanding talent of Hungarian engineers and skilled workers and the significant support by the Hungarian government.