Roth & Rau enters agreement with Australia’s University of New South Wales

Roth & Rau AG has announced it will set up a state-of-the-art silicon solar cell production line at the University of New South Wales. The Solar Industrial Research Facility (SIRF) will be an industrial-grade manufacturing facility that will enable the development of UNSW's silicon solar cell technologies from laboratory processes to factory-ready industrial processes. These innovative technologies will prospectively also be flowing into the development of new products and turnkey product lines at Roth & Rau. The SIRF will be the first solar research and development facility of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region.





“We are thrilled that the new partnership with Roth and Rau for the SIRF, supported by the Australian Solar Institute, will dramatically boost the impact of Australia's leading solar cell researchers in the Asia-Pacific and beyond,” Dr Richard Corkish, head of the UNSW School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, said. “For the first time Australia will have a world-class facility to industrialise and demonstrate its champion photovoltaics technologies and train engineers to provide better tools to battle global warming.” Professor Martin Green, Executive Research Director of the University's ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence, said: “This is a big step forward. Our students will get first-hand production experience while the pilot line will provide a much-needed test bed for researchers around the country”.



Dr. Dietmar Roth, CEO of Roth & Rau said “We are pleased to bring our solar cell manufacturing equipment and extensive industry expertise to this research facility.”



The SIRF will be used to showcase advanced solar cell manufacturing technology to a global customer base and will also be used to train Roth & Rau staff and customers on advanced equipment and processes. As a world-class research facility it is also expected to attract top-level research students to UNSW.