Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Denisa Sakova, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan's Sekisui Chemical.

Sekisui Chemical is designing lightweight perovskite PV technology. It aims to commercialize flexible panels in 2025.

“We are interested not only in working together on the expansion of this technology in Slovakia, but at the same time we also want to explore the possibilities of locating the production of such panels in our country,” said Sakova.

According to the Slovak Ministry of Economy, the agreement creates the prerequisites for close cooperation between the two parties, especially when finding different conditions for entering the Slovak market.

The two sides expressed willingness to negotiate on the potential for Sekisui Chemicals to produce its technology in Slovakia, in addition to cooperating on research and development.

Sekisui Chemical is currently developing its roll-to-roll manufacturing process in a research collaboration supported by the Green Innovation Fund, an initiative under Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

“Production is currently being carried out at a small facility in the laboratory. The location of a full-scale production facility is under consideration,” a spokesperson from Sekisui Chemical told us in August 2023. “We expect JPY 10 billion ($68 million), or more, for the investment.”