Sunmaxx has started building a highly automated factory on the site of an existing production facility in Ottendorf-Okrilla, near Dresden, Germany.

The German photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) module manufacturer said that the factory has an annual capacity of 50 MW, or 120,000 modules per year. It claimed that it is currently the world's largest PVT production facility.

Sunmaxx plans to switch on the first production line this year. It said that it aims to reach a capacity of 3 GW at an unspecified later stage.

“The remodeling of the production site and the preparation of the hall for the production machinery is currently taking place,” said CTO Jiri Springer. “But the demand for our modules – including for the construction of ground-mounted systems – is growing rapidly and we want to scale up our production as quickly as possible. We plan to open the first line this year, but the location allows us to implement further expansion opportunities up to several hundred megawatts per year in the near future.”

In March, Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) certified that Sunmaxx's PVT PX-1 solar modules have an overall efficiency of 80%. They measure 1,750 mm x 1,140 mm x 38 mm and feature 108 PERC half-cells in the M10 format. The electrical output is 400 W, which corresponds to an electrical efficiency of about 20%.