Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing turn-key production lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) modules, today announced that it has begun the expansion of its Advanced Technology Center (ATC) Lab at its corporate headquarters.

Spire’s ATC Lab houses solar module manufacturing equipment that is at the forefront of technology, including a fully functioning PV module production line. This facility is used by customers for the development and qualification of new and advanced crystalline silicon and thin film modules. Also, the facility provides support for the development and qualification of new materials for module encapsulation, glass types, cell structures, and associated electronics.

The ATC Lab is being expanded with new Spire equipment for customer evaluation and factory training. The new equipment includes a larger laminator, for laminations up to 1.8 meters by 3.4 meters, Spire’s next generation assembler, the Spi-Assembler(TM) 8000, Spire’s Electroluminescence crack detection system, the Spi-EL Tester(TM) and Spire’s next generation simulator, the Spi-Sun Simulator(TM) 4600A.

“We are very pleased to expand our ATC Lab as a means of introducing our new equipment as well as support our customers and new entrants into the PV industry,” said Roger G. Little, Chairman and CEO of Spire Corporation. “We will also continue to provide engineering evaluation of prototype modules and module certification for systems integrators.”