PLAINVIEW, USA: Veeco Instruments Inc. announced that it has received a multi-million dollar order from GroupSat (Hong Kong) Ltd for its suite of FastFlex Web Coating Systems.
This complement of tools will be shipped to GroupSat’s factory in Suzhou, China, and is comprised of one Mo (Molybdenum) deposition system, one TCO (Transparent Conductive Oxide) deposition system and two CIGS (copper, indium, gallium and selenide) deposition systems. Veeco currently expects to ship these systems in early 2010.
Nasir M. Ameriar, CEO of GroupSat, commented: “We have an aggressive plan to become the first true CIGS thin film solar manufacturer in China. As a provider of flexible solar products, we will cater to markets in China, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, and have chosen Veeco’s FastFlex Web Coating Systems because we are convinced that their technology and process support will help us achieve our goals.”
David Bruns, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Veeco Solar Equipment, said: “We are pleased to be selected by GroupSat for their expansion plans. Our FastFlex systems feature the industry’s only fully integrated thermal evaporation sources, which we believe provides our customers a high throughput, low cost manufacturing solution. Ultimately the success of CIGS technology is tied to increasing cell efficiency and driving down manufacturing cost per watt.”
CIGS is emerging as the next generation solar technology, offering combined benefits of higher efficiencies and lower costs when compared with silicon. Market research firm Greentech Media estimates that CIGS production capacity will grow from 264 megawatts in 2009 to 1.7 gigawatts in 2012 (a CAGR of 86 percent).
CIGS solar cells offer the broadest range of applications of any thin film solar technology –- they can be used in solar farms, in BIPV (building integrated PV), flat and pitched roofs, rooftop shingles and in portable devices.
Veeco’s FastFlex platform features flexible architecture with high uptime that can be configured to specific needs, with a choice of rotary or planar magnetrons for high throughput, high temperature effusion sources, and substrate sizes up to one meter wide.
Showing posts with label CIGS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CIGS. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
XsunX gets positive response to cross-industry CIGS technology
ALISO VIEJO, USA: XsunX Inc., an established solar company, announced that company representatives who attended Intersolar North America and Semicon West 2009 (July 14-16) received positive response to the company's cross-industry CIGS technology plan.
The company recently announced that it is developing a breakthrough thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) cross-industry technology that may soon utilize the excess manufacturing capacity of the mature hard disc drive (HDD) industry to mass produce high efficiency, low cost solar cells.
Intersolar North America is an international, business-to-business trade show held in the United States for the global solar industry and focuses on photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal technology, and solar architecture.
Semicon West is part of the business-to-business event for the PV manufacturing supply chain and covers the spectrum of PV technologies and issues including thin film and polysilicon devices, as well as increasing solar cell efficiencies and decreasing the cost of solar energy.
According to event organizers, the preliminary visitor attendance for both Semicon West and Intersolar North America was 16,700 with over 500 exhibitors attending.
Joseph Grimes, XsunX's President & COO, stated: "We are extremely pleased with the positive comments received from industry experts at the two shows. Their responses validated that the XsunX approach presents a viable method for producing high efficiency CIGS cells.
"Silicon wafer based module manufacturers expressed growing concern to XsunX that silicon costs would rise again, and that as a non-silicon based wafer replacement company, XsunX offered a potential solution to rising costs of production.
"The breakthrough thin-film opportunity, which is described at our new web site www.xsunx.com, also relieves some of their concerns about the issues faced in scaling CIGS which we believe will overcome current solar technology manufacturing limitations."
XsunX's manufacturing method combines the higher cell efficiencies that can be achieved through small area solar cell production with the high rate processing techniques developed within the hard disc drive industry (HDD).
Tom Djokovich, XsunX's CEO, commented: "High efficiency flexible CIGS solar cells provide an immense opportunity for use in multiple market segments. They are like solar building blocks for a wide variety of applications including use as a virtual drop in replacement for costly silicon wafers. This is a vast market opportunity to replace aging technology.
"Working with a proven manufacturer of HDD systems and the National Renewable Energy Laboratories will not only accelerate our progress, but will also increase the value of the technology to the industry."
The company recently announced that it is developing a breakthrough thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) cross-industry technology that may soon utilize the excess manufacturing capacity of the mature hard disc drive (HDD) industry to mass produce high efficiency, low cost solar cells.
Intersolar North America is an international, business-to-business trade show held in the United States for the global solar industry and focuses on photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal technology, and solar architecture.
Semicon West is part of the business-to-business event for the PV manufacturing supply chain and covers the spectrum of PV technologies and issues including thin film and polysilicon devices, as well as increasing solar cell efficiencies and decreasing the cost of solar energy.
According to event organizers, the preliminary visitor attendance for both Semicon West and Intersolar North America was 16,700 with over 500 exhibitors attending.
Joseph Grimes, XsunX's President & COO, stated: "We are extremely pleased with the positive comments received from industry experts at the two shows. Their responses validated that the XsunX approach presents a viable method for producing high efficiency CIGS cells.
"Silicon wafer based module manufacturers expressed growing concern to XsunX that silicon costs would rise again, and that as a non-silicon based wafer replacement company, XsunX offered a potential solution to rising costs of production.
"The breakthrough thin-film opportunity, which is described at our new web site www.xsunx.com, also relieves some of their concerns about the issues faced in scaling CIGS which we believe will overcome current solar technology manufacturing limitations."
XsunX's manufacturing method combines the higher cell efficiencies that can be achieved through small area solar cell production with the high rate processing techniques developed within the hard disc drive industry (HDD).
Tom Djokovich, XsunX's CEO, commented: "High efficiency flexible CIGS solar cells provide an immense opportunity for use in multiple market segments. They are like solar building blocks for a wide variety of applications including use as a virtual drop in replacement for costly silicon wafers. This is a vast market opportunity to replace aging technology.
"Working with a proven manufacturer of HDD systems and the National Renewable Energy Laboratories will not only accelerate our progress, but will also increase the value of the technology to the industry."
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Strategies for gaining share in solar market
NEW TRIPOLI, USA: Solar cell manufacturers must differentiate themselves during the slowdown in the solar cell market, according to a report Opportunities in The Solar Market For Crystalline and Thin Film Solar Cells, recently published by The Information Network.
The solar cell manufacturing industry has become a “me too” business. Solar companies manufacturing polycrystalline panels buy the same polysilicon and wafers from less than a dozen material suppliers. Companies buying an amorphous silicon thin film process line from Applied Materials or Oerlikon are making the same films as other customers from these equipment vendors.
Certainly there are new avenues of manufacturing, such as CdTe from First Solar, CIGS from half a dozen manufacturers, multi-junction cells from companies such as Uni-Solar, and building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) from an increasing number of manufacturers. These technologies differentiate these companies’ products, but the proportion of wattage manufactured, while growing, is small compared to the majority of solar panels sold using traditional methods of production, i.e., a thin film on a glass substrate.
How can the majority of solar manufacturers differentiate their products, particularly during the economic slowdown that has dropped capacity utilization to below 50 percent, and most importantly, how can they do it cheaply? Aside from the traditional lingo such as reduce costs or economies of scale, there are better ways -– increase efficiency and improve reliability.
Increase efficiency
Amorphous silicon thin film manufacturers are working on a micromorph structure in which a second layer of silicon is deposited. Applied Materials and Oerlikon are spending vast amounts of R&D to get the solar cells made on their equipment from an efficiency of less than 8 percent to above 10 percent to be competitive with CdTe and CIGS, but they are a few years away. Even so, the added cost of the vacuum equipment to deposit the additional layer can cost upwards of $50 million for a 60MW plant.
“A local company (contact me for details) has developed a coating for amorphous and polycrystalline cells that can improve efficiency between 8 and 12 percent using non-vacuum techniques so that the cost is in the cents per watt range,” noted Dr. Robert N. Castellano, President of The Information Network.
“Tunable refractive indices make these materials excellent candidates for improving both thermal conductivity and absorption bandwidths. When these unique, novel coatings are coupled with nano-enhanced polymeric coatings, significantly improved durability and extended product life can be anticipated. UV resistance, resistance to optical crazing, and the effect of adverse weather and temperature conditions is also predicted. Films can be coated on any surface,” he added.
Research was performed at an acclaimed university in Eastern PA, and the company is now looking for additional funding to optimize deposition parameters and coating properties with the intent of licensing the IP to all solar manufacturers.
Increasing the efficiency by 10 percent will increase a 50MW production line to 60MW. At a selling price of $3 per watt, that comes to added revenues of $30 million at an added cost of $1-2 per panel, that’s per panel of 100-200W, or 50,000-$100,000 per year for the 50MW facility. Imagine the possibility if this coating was put on all 7GW of power we estimate will be installed this year as indicated in a release in late November 2008.
Improve reliability
The high costs of solar panels and their installation keep them out of the “throwaway” mentality. Long life and low cost of ownership are paramount, particularly in space applications. Manufacturing can introduce defects in solar cells that can result in low electron mobility (EM), electron traps and photo-degradation from UV light.
Part 2 of this article will discuss how these issues affect efficiency and lifetime of solar cells and the importance of measuring electron mobility at the wafer and cell stage, and how these results can increase market share for the manufacturer.
The solar cell manufacturing industry has become a “me too” business. Solar companies manufacturing polycrystalline panels buy the same polysilicon and wafers from less than a dozen material suppliers. Companies buying an amorphous silicon thin film process line from Applied Materials or Oerlikon are making the same films as other customers from these equipment vendors.
Certainly there are new avenues of manufacturing, such as CdTe from First Solar, CIGS from half a dozen manufacturers, multi-junction cells from companies such as Uni-Solar, and building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) from an increasing number of manufacturers. These technologies differentiate these companies’ products, but the proportion of wattage manufactured, while growing, is small compared to the majority of solar panels sold using traditional methods of production, i.e., a thin film on a glass substrate.
How can the majority of solar manufacturers differentiate their products, particularly during the economic slowdown that has dropped capacity utilization to below 50 percent, and most importantly, how can they do it cheaply? Aside from the traditional lingo such as reduce costs or economies of scale, there are better ways -– increase efficiency and improve reliability.
Increase efficiency
Amorphous silicon thin film manufacturers are working on a micromorph structure in which a second layer of silicon is deposited. Applied Materials and Oerlikon are spending vast amounts of R&D to get the solar cells made on their equipment from an efficiency of less than 8 percent to above 10 percent to be competitive with CdTe and CIGS, but they are a few years away. Even so, the added cost of the vacuum equipment to deposit the additional layer can cost upwards of $50 million for a 60MW plant.
“A local company (contact me for details) has developed a coating for amorphous and polycrystalline cells that can improve efficiency between 8 and 12 percent using non-vacuum techniques so that the cost is in the cents per watt range,” noted Dr. Robert N. Castellano, President of The Information Network.
“Tunable refractive indices make these materials excellent candidates for improving both thermal conductivity and absorption bandwidths. When these unique, novel coatings are coupled with nano-enhanced polymeric coatings, significantly improved durability and extended product life can be anticipated. UV resistance, resistance to optical crazing, and the effect of adverse weather and temperature conditions is also predicted. Films can be coated on any surface,” he added.
Research was performed at an acclaimed university in Eastern PA, and the company is now looking for additional funding to optimize deposition parameters and coating properties with the intent of licensing the IP to all solar manufacturers.
Increasing the efficiency by 10 percent will increase a 50MW production line to 60MW. At a selling price of $3 per watt, that comes to added revenues of $30 million at an added cost of $1-2 per panel, that’s per panel of 100-200W, or 50,000-$100,000 per year for the 50MW facility. Imagine the possibility if this coating was put on all 7GW of power we estimate will be installed this year as indicated in a release in late November 2008.
Improve reliability
The high costs of solar panels and their installation keep them out of the “throwaway” mentality. Long life and low cost of ownership are paramount, particularly in space applications. Manufacturing can introduce defects in solar cells that can result in low electron mobility (EM), electron traps and photo-degradation from UV light.
Part 2 of this article will discuss how these issues affect efficiency and lifetime of solar cells and the importance of measuring electron mobility at the wafer and cell stage, and how these results can increase market share for the manufacturer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
