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France’s Soitec Group, a leading supplier of engineered substrates for the microelectronics industry, will acquire the German concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar systems maker Concentrix Solar GmbH.
Soitec has acquired about 80% of the company’s shares, valuing 100% of Concentrix at EUR 55 million ($79 million). The transaction includes access to high-efficiency concentrator solar cell technologies from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE (Fraunhofer ISE). The remaining 20% of the shares will continue to be owned by the Fraunhofer ISE and the company’s founders and senior management.
Soitec said in a statement that the acquisition will allow it to enter the solar sector and expand its revenue base as “worldwide demand for CPV systems is anticipated to ramp up strongly in the coming years.”
Based in Freiburg, Germany, Concentrix was spun out of Fraunhofer ISE in 2005. Concentrix will retain its staff and will operate within a new photovoltaic business unit of the Soitec Group.
Concentrix’s patented CPV solution, tested in various power plants and demo installations in Spain, Italy, Korea and the United States, concentrates sunlight onto a small area of high-efficiency solar cells, reducing the need for costly materials and increasing system efficiency.
