Showing posts with label thin film photovoltaics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thin film photovoltaics. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Solyndra signs $238mn contract with Umwelt-Sonne-Energie

FREMONT, USA: Solyndra Inc., a manufacturer of innovative proprietary photovoltaic (PV) systems for commercial rooftops, has signed a new long-term sales contract with solar integrator Umwelt-Sonne-Energie GmbH (USE), based in Holzgerlingen, Germany.

The Euro-based contract, worth up to $238 million, extends through 2013 and brings Solyndra's contractual backlog to more than $2 billion. The solar panels for these contracts will be manufactured at Solyndra's facilities in Fremont and Milpitas, California.

"We are very happy to announce this relationship with USE, a highly innovative integrator of large-scale PV systems. USE’s strong presence in Germany and eastern Europe, coupled with Solyndra’s breakthrough PV systems, will accelerate the deployment of world-class photovoltaic installations on commercial rooftops in these very attractive markets," said Dr. Kelly Truman, Solyndra’s VP of Marketing and Business Development.

Solyndra's cylindrical, thin film PV systems are designed to generate more electricity on an annual basis from typical low-slope commercial rooftops, while uniquely providing much lower installation costs than conventional flat panel PV technologies.

"As a company focused on innovation in photovoltaics, we are very excited to announce this partnership. Solyndra’s revolutionary technology redefines performance for large roofs compared to conventional PV technologies in terms of installation cost, non-penetrating wind performance, rooftop loading, and energy production per roof,” states Arnold Berens, Managing Director of USE.

"Solyndra's innovative cylindrical module geometry and fast and easy mounting technology provide definitive proof that even today, dramatic breakthroughs in PV engineering are possible,” added Daniel GrĂ¼nauer, Managing Director of USE.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Significant mismatch between solar cell shipment targets and likely 2009 results!

AUSTIN, USA: Young Market Research (YMR) has released the first issue of its Monthly Solar Cell Capacity, Shipment and Company Profile Database and Report. This three-in-one report features essential supply, shipment and company profile data and analysis on over 210 different cell manufacturers.

According to Ross Young, YMR President: “The first issue of this report shows that solar cell manufacturers are currently overly optimistic on the 2009 market. Aggregating their 2009 shipment forecasts results in a market size of 10.4GWs, up 39 percent vs. the 2008 total of 7.5GWs and well beyond the likely outcome of 5.5-7.5GWs. As a result, we expect to see many companies reducing their 2009 guidance in coming quarters.”

According to Young, the lack of growth in 2009 can be attributed to the factors below and are too much to overcome despite healthy reductions in costs and prices.

* An 80 percent decline in Spain, the largest PV market in 2008, due to a 500MW cap on subsidies.
* A harsh winter in Germany, the #2 market in 2008 and expected to be the largest in 2009.
* Tighter credit worldwide for photovoltaic (PV) system financing.
* A declining global economy.
* Significant product inventory in the reseller channel at the beginning of the year.

Report highlights:
* After holding the #3 position in shipments in 2008, First Solar is expected to grab the #1 position for the first time in 2009 with a healthy share advantage over its top competitors on cost leadership and strong demand from the growing utility market.

* Thin film technologies a-Si and CIGS are expected to occupy 17 percent of worldwide capacity in 2009, but just 9 percent of shipments on technical challenges, higher capital costs in the case of a-Si, higher balance of system costs due to lower efficiencies and strong price competition from CdTe and c-Si technologies whose costs and prices are falling rapidly. This report shows 93 cell manufacturers participating in a-Si or CIGS.

* The 2009 capacity growth rate will be 40 percent slower than 2008 as suppliers look to preserve cash. A majority of listed companies lost money in Q1’09 with average operating margins falling from double-digits through Q3’08 to 3% in Q1’09.

* A 42 percent CAGR in nameplate capacity to 50GWs in 2012 with at least 18 percent annual growth as healthy demand growth returns in 2010 due to lower prices and larger stimulus programs worldwide.

* China is expected to lead in total capacity throughout the forecast with a dominant share in c-Si capacity and the top share in thin film capacity from 2009.

Americans call for more solar energy

SANTA CLARA: USA: As Americans prepare to enjoy the longest day of the year on Sunday, June 21 during the summer solstice, Applied Materials, a leading supplier of solar manufacturing equipment, has released a survey reflecting the general public’s understanding and opinions about solar energy.

The findings indicate that a majority of people surveyed believe in the potential of solar technology, and want the US government and utilities to do more to speed its adoption, although some have outdated views.

“The summer solstice is a good time to celebrate the unique power of the sun,” said Dr. Charles Gay, president of Applied Solar. “Applied Materials is working to build a better understanding of how solar technology can provide the country with energy that is efficient, beneficial and now cost-competitive for peak usage in specific regions.”

According to the survey, Americans are calling for more solar energy and faster integration of renewable power into the U.S. energy mix:

* Half of the people surveyed (50 percent) think the US Government’s goal to have 25 percent of its power generated by renewable energy by 2025 is too slow.
* Four out of five (81 percent) agree that solar energy should play a greater role in meeting our nation’s energy needs in the next five years.
* More than two-thirds (68 percent) think utilities should include solar electricity as a part of their energy generation.
* Just over half (52 percent) would be willing to pay more per month if their utility company increased its use of renewable energy. But many consumers (41 percent) would not be willing to pay more, demonstrating the important role that government incentives, to bring down solar costs, will have on advancement of the technology.

Dispelling myths and providing solar solutions
“Applied Materials’ solar energy strategy is to bring significant change to the solar industry by enabling lower cost-per-watt solutions for solar photovoltaic (PV) cell manufacturing,” said Gay. “Our goal is to make solar energy a more meaningful contributor to the global energy supply.”

One important step to meeting the company’s goal is to help educate the public about the true potential of solar energy and refute common myths about the sun as an energy source.

Considerable progress has been made advancing solar technology during the past two decades, although many in the survey were not aware of this. Applied Materials, for example, has introduced the SunFab Thin Film Line, a fully integrated production line for manufacturing the world’s largest solar panels.

A full-size SunFab panel measures 5.7m2, or four times the size of traditional panels, and covers an area about the size of a garage door. These larger panels will help increase solar energy output and drive down costs. Experience shows that increasing scale reduces costs–for each doubling of solar installations worldwide, the cost per watt of solar energy has declined by nearly 20 percent.

The survey also showed that Americans overestimate the amount of solar energy used in this country. One in five people stated that 20 percent or more of our energy comes from solar power. But solar energy accounts for less than 0.01 percent of US energy generation, even though solar is already cost-competitive with fossil fuels for peak demand in such places as Hawaii, California and New York.

Another misconception held by over half of the persons surveyed is that solar panel installations on homes are the most efficient way to harness solar energy. In fact, “solar farms” represent an underutilized source for solar energy.

The United States could supply its entire energy needs by covering just 1.6 percent of its land area with solar cells. In fact, putting solar cells on 1 percent of the area of global deserts would be sufficient to produce electricity for all the people in the world.

Germany and Spain lead the world in solar energy use, thanks to the revolutionary effect of government incentives. But one in four people surveyed believe that the U.S. is the world leader. Policy changes at the federal, state and local level can help the United States assume more of a leadership role in solar energy use.

Applied Materials, headquartered in the Silicon Valley, has the nanomanufacturing technology and capabilities to accelerate the growth of the United States solar market.

A single Applied SunFab tandem junction thin film line can produce enough panels to generate 80 MW of electricity each year, or enough to power over 35,000 homes during peak hours. In addition to the environmental benefits, a solar factory containing one SunFab line has the potential to generate an estimated $2 billion of economic development and create over 2,500 local jobs over five production years, according to an independent analysis.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Malibu opens first green TFPV fab using Linde’s fluorine technology

MUNICH/OSTERWEDDINGEN, GERMANY: Delivering a major step forward in sustainable solar power, Malibu today launched the world’s first thin-film solar module factory that completely eliminates the use of nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), a greenhouse gas with a significant global warming potential, from the manufacturing process.

Working in close collaboration with researchers from technology provider Linde Gases, a division of The Linde Group, scientists at Malibu’s development centre in Bielefeld, Germany, have developed an improved cleaning process using on-site generated fluorine (F2) made with Linde’s patented technology.

As a result, the carbon payback time –- the time it takes the use of solar panels to offset the environmental impact of their manufacture –- is reduced by up to one year. This improved process will now be rolled out to their new 40MW production facility in Osterweddingen, Germany.

Dean O’Connor, Head of Market Development & Technology at Linde Gases Division, said: “Linde and Malibu have clearly demonstrated their leadership and foresight in helping the thin-film PV industry to reach a watershed moment. Green energy will only be truly green when the entire supply and manufacturing chain works together to minimise environmental impact.”

According to Konrad Kaiser, General Manager Malibu: “Not only does the F2 cleaning process eliminate a major source of potential greenhouse gas emissions for our thin-film solar panels, it also speeds our processing and uses less material. This improves the overall sustainability of our product by reducing both environmental impact and manufacturing costs.”

In 2008, Linde and Malibu established their Joint Development Programme for the development of advanced material technology to improve cell efficiency, throughput and yield. F2 cleaning is the first of a number of material-based processes to emerge from their successful collaboration. NF3 and other fluorine compounds, such as sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), are used to clean the process tools that make the important silicon photovoltaic layers in thin-film solar modules.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Signet Solar, Moncada Energy Group execute definitive supply agreement

MENLO PARK, USA: Signet Solar and Moncada Energy Group announced that the two companies have executed a definitive supply agreement for Signet to supply a minimum of 7.7MWp of its Gen 8.5 thin film modules before the end of 2009 and a continued supply relationship in 2010 and beyond.

Moncada, the largest Sicilian producer of wind power (over 100MW) with projects focused in renewable energy across all of Europe, will deploy the purchased thin film modules in large solar PV farms beneath the towers of their wind farms to allow both the panels and the wind turbines to use the same infrastructure in place to collect energy for, what Moncada calls, “double-harvesting renewable energy”.

"Our deployments will be the world’s first large scale installation of certified Gen 8.5 size (2.2 m x 2.6 m) modules,” said Salvatore Moncada, CEO of the Moncada Energy Group. “We believe that using these large modules in solar farms will allow for the lowest cost structure per installed watt due to the advances Signet Solar has made in thin film technology and module efficiency, and we are excited to work with Signet over the long term.”

“We are thoroughly excited to work with Moncada Energy Group, who falls perfectly into our strategy of being the world’s leader in providing thin film PV solutions for solar farms," said Gunter Ziegenbalg, Managing Director of Signet Solar. “We believe this kind of commitment is a testament to our extremely strong quality and reliability, and our customer first approach.“

Monday, May 11, 2009

Solyndra in sales contract with SunConnex

FREMONT, USA: Solyndra Inc., a manufacturer of innovative proprietary photovoltaic (PV) systems designed to optimize solar electricity production on commercial rooftops, has signed a new long-term sales contract with solar integrator SunConnex B.V., based in Amsterdam.

The Euro-based contract is worth up to $189 million and extends through 2013. The SunConnex deal brings Solyndra's announced contractual backlog to nearly $1.7 billion. The solar panels for these contracts will be manufactured at Solyndra's facilities in Fremont and Milpitas, California.

"We are very pleased to announce this relationship with SunConnex. Their expertise in the Benelux region and across Europe should enable exceptional growth in one of the hottest markets for commercial scale solar, " said Solyndra founder and CEO Chris Gronet. "We expect that the Solyndra system's ease and speed of installation will enable SunConnex to rapidly and efficiently outfit significantly more commercial rooftops with solar."

Solyndra's thin film PV system is designed to generate significantly more solar electricity on an annual basis from typical low-slope commercial rooftops while uniquely providing much lower installation costs than conventional PV flat panel technologies.

"Our goal is to offer groundbreaking products at reasonable prices. Solyndra's unique design is an excellent fit with this strategy," said Kie Tan, CEO and co-founder of SunConnex. "The Solyndra system enables our customers to generate more kWh of energy from a given rooftop, at industry-leading economics. Plus, the non-penetrating mounting system gives our customers confidence that their roof will never leak."

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Comprehensive report on TFPV and batteries 2009-2029

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Thin Film Photovoltaics and Batteries 2009-2029" report to its offering.

This comprehensive report, updated and revised in March 2009 to take into account the global economic situation, gives a thorough analysis of printed and thin film photovoltaics and batteries, with 10 year forecasts to 2019. Included are detailed profiles of 48 companies working on the many different types of technologies.

The report covers companies, research institutes and universities that are active in developing and commercializing thin film technologies for photovoltaics and batteries. Photovoltaic technologies covered include CIGS, CdTe, DSSC, a-Si and organic photovoltaics. Learn how these technologies (each at a different stage of development and adoption) are driven forward by both government and leading companies in the field.

The report also describes materials (both organic and inorganic) and device structures as well as various high-speed printing technologies employed.

IDTechEx find that the market for thin film inorganic photovoltaic technologies beyond crystalline silicon will reach at least $20 billion in 2014. The global solar energy market is expected to reach $34 billion in 2010 and $100 billion in 2050 and most of that latter figure is expected to be achieved by non-silicon photovoltaics.

This report provides a comprehensive list of key companies that are active in each of the TFPV and battery technologies. Compiled and analyzed by Dr Harry Zervos, technology analyst with IDTechEx, company profiles are given along with 20 year forecasts for the growth of the market share of these technologies. Dr Bruce Kahn, consultant and academic, gives a thorough analysis of the science and technology behind thin film photovoltaics and batteries, as well as a comparison of different high-speed printing techniques.

New technologies emerging
Silicon photocells are seen in many places, but the technology is limited. Crystalline silicon will never give tightly rollable devices let alone transparent ones or even low cost power generation on flexible substrates.

Fortunately there are many new alternatives. Proprietary nano-particle silicon printing processes are developed by companies such as Innovalight and Kovio and it promises many of the photovoltaic features that conventional silicon can never achieve. It can be printed reel to reel on stainless steel or other high temperature substrates.

However, most of the work on the next generation of photovoltaics is directed at printing onto low cost flexible polymer film and ultimately on common packaging materials.

Several companies, universities and research institutes are hard at work in different development stages of these technologies with large scale plants being built across the globe.