Grupo Unisolar and Tinox have signed a deal for the promotion and development of at least 100 plants from now until 2013. In total, 300 million Euros will be needed for the projects.

Each one of the plants would be able to process around one million litres of water per day, or enough to cover the needs of 5,000 households.

Unisolar will provide the know-how and distribution of solar thermal collectors in Spain and Portugal, while Tinox will contribute with its patented desalination technology.

Since 2003, Tinox has been part of the Energy Technology Division of the MAGE Group. Recently,  Germany-based MAGE Group and Italy's ALMECO Group announced the merger of their coating activities in the solar thermal business field. It was decided that the production sites will remain based in Munich and Bernburg. All of the commercial and marketing activities are being carried out in Munich and in San Giuliano Milanese dedicated to Italian market.

After transferring the Reflective Solar Coatings (Speculars) from ALMECO, the JV is now offering two comprehensive product lines: VEGA energy (high reflectance materials for Thermodynamics e.g. Solar power plants) and Tinox energy (highly selective absorber coatings on copper and aluminium substrates for high quality solar thermal applications).