La Talaudière, October 21, 2011 – ELIFRANCE today announced the official opening of its ENERGEY division located at La Talaudière.
As part of this event, the company inaugurated the production line of solar panels for its new Energy business. The event is chaired by Maurice Vincent, President of Saint-Etienne, senator and mayor of Saint-Etienne, with the participation of numerous personalities including, Luca Bellotti, Italian Minister of Labour government, RIONDINO Giorgio, the Italian Government for the implementation of the program, Ennio Blasco, prefect of the Italian province of AVELLINO, Laura Felici, President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in France, Laura Botta, consul General of Italy in Lyon, Michel Thiollière, Vice-President of the Commission Regulatory Energy and Pascal Garrido, mayor of La Talaudière
This new activity is entirely devoted to the production of photovoltaic panels multi-crystalline silicon. It revolves around an automated production process, with a 100% of the energy produced by the panel and the traceability of the product that can offer a 25 year warranty. It is based on the know-how of the company’s PCBA manufacturing and electronics products with, at the end, maintaining jobs in the economic area Etienne in 2011.
For several years, photovoltaic installations are accelerated by national programs offering significant opportunities for development, particularly in Italy and Germany.
Pufin Group has implemented a strategy of industrial restructuring in the province of Avellino successful through its subsidiary EL.ITAL with the installation of two production lines of hi-efficiency photovoltaic panels to produce approximately 50MW. A Saint-Etienne, ELIFRANCE installed in record time, a production line of photovoltaic panels around 30MW. Overall, the Group’s total production of 80MW a year and its goal is to reach 100MW of annual production.
In France, the development is also underway. The start of production of solar panels aims to hold between 3 and 6% of the French market growth, via an annual production to produce more than 20 MW of PV modules.
“ELIFRANCE demonstrates its commitment and willingness to provide high quality products, becoming the first site in France have been audited in September 2011 and awarded the Quality Label AQPV, “says Massimo Pugliese, president of ELIFRANCE” The opening our Energy business with a first production line of photovoltaic panels mono and polycrystalline silicon strengthens our position in a growing market”.
The investment was around 5 million euros for ELIFRANCE.
Saint-Etienne Métropole, as the owner of the site area of the Chazotte Molina, also supported by funding from the extension of the current site. “It also illustrates perfectly our partnership with Saint-Etienne,” says Massimo Pugliese. “This win-win partnership allows the development of a new activity in the field of renewable energy with, firstly, maintaining jobs at Saint-Etienne area and a growth forecast for the creation of new jobs” .
Recall that the photovoltaic sector now represents more than 4,500 direct jobs in France, created in 2010 1900. With a projected annual market of about 5.4 gigawatts accumulated by 2020, nearly 70 000 jobs will be created in 8 years.
About ELIFRANCE The ELIFRANCE company is located in La Talaudière, a historic site near Saint-Etienne. It employs 137 people and has a manufacturing workshop more than 6000 m2. Its origin dates back to 1941 when CRC (radio Constructions center) inaugurated a center of excellence in electronics. In 1971, Schlumberger repurchased activity in CRC and developed the activity of instrumentation and automatic test equipments (ATE). In 2003, the second largest global electronics subcontracting Flextronics bought the factory and its activities to Schlumberger company history. In July 2010, a change of shareholder allowed the creation of ELIFRANCE, a new entity.
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