AM Technical Solutions (AM) has the opportunity to support a major semiconductor manufacturing company with facility expansion plans. Our customer is evaluating various scenarios to significantly expand their capabilities and produce over 3GW per year of solar cells and modules.
The project is partially driven by U.S. market demand for solar energy, which continues to grow at a rapid pace. Additionally, there are possible local and federal incentives for the U.S.-based manufacturing of solar panels to serve domestic customers.
Our client is in the process of reviewing alternate sites and scenarios to build a robust facility that can produce finished products. The project is in the early stages of site master planning and programming. However, because of the favorable market conditions and government incentives, the project is likely to accelerate when site selection is finalized.
Through our first-time-right approach to project delivery, we are more than capable of aligning with the client’s project timelines and goals to help them ramp up production at the selected facility.
Our Project Scope Supporting Solar Cell and Module Production
The scope of work for this project includes establishing an approximately 1.5 million sq. ft. factory complex with capabilities for cell fabrication, module assembly, and warehousing. The plan for the warehouse is to enable the direct delivery of raw materials to the plant and then ship completed products directly to their customers.
The plan is to break up the facility into the following elements:
- Cleanroom space with automated manufacturing tools and the ability to handle chemically-intense processes.
- A highly-automated and sophisticated solar panel assembly space.
- A centralized zone for Mechanical, Electrical, and Process (MEP) buildings.
- A sophisticated bulk gas production and distribution space with chemical storage and dispensing.
Our company will primarily focus on providing Engineering, Architecture, and Project Management services. We will also provide Cost Estimating support for this project.
What Makes AM Qualified to Support This Project?
We are uniquely qualified to support this facility expansion project because we have performed both semiconductor wafer fab and photovoltaic (solar) factory programming, design, and construction projects across the U.S. for the last 30 years.
We possess critical process engineering and design skills that allow us to quickly understand the tool-driven utilities capability requirements for types of facilities in terms of both capacity and quality.
Also, our Cleanroom Design and Build skills enable us to quickly and accurately envision a very large cleanroom, plan around critical elements of the tool requirements with cost-effectiveness in mind, and complete detailed cleanroom cost estimates as well as a comprehensive Basis of Design.
Using our expertise, our client will be able to make critical decisions around site development. We have extensive experience with the development of semiconductor technology-based facilities, and we understand that these types of facilities require major investments in critical site elements such as power, water, sewer, and roadways.
– Our team will help the client address specific challenges with the production of solar cells and modules:
1. Cost constraints. Cost is a critical element of the highly competitive solar panel industry. U.S. factories typically require more specific code compliance and insurance protection than facilities in other parts of the world. We will help our client identify cost efficiencies to remain competitive in the market.
2. Benchmarking. This facility will be one of the first of its kind in the U.S. in nearly a decade. Our knowledge base allows us to bring the necessary information for benchmarking the scope of the project.
3. Filling gaps. Our client needed to advance their manufacturing into cell fab and module assembly and needed to ensure efficient automation for the transport of finished cells and module assembly at the proposed new site.
We can solve this challenge through our extensive Automated Material Handling Systems (AMHS) experience. We made recommendations to help the client plan for this activity and included the necessary elements in the Basis of Design.
“We are eager to help our client prepare for large-scale production in solar panel manufacturing to support the U.S. market,” says Abbie Gregg, AM CTO. “Our client will be able to participate in government incentive programs and utilize a cost-effective, highly-automated Cell Fab and Module Assembly factory at a scale that can be reproduced in the future.”
– Find out more about our capabilities to deliver high-tech construction services for semiconductor companies.
– View our portfolio of award-winning high-tech construction projects for semiconductor fabrication facilities.
– Need high-tech construction services to help your company increase production at a current facility or support expansion plans at a new facility? Contact us today to discuss your next project. Let’s identify a solution that fits your need.