Kenmos to volume produce thin-film solar cells in 2008
Rebecca Kuo and Nuying Huang, Taipei; Esther Lam
Source: DIGITIMES, 3 September 2007
http://www.digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20070903PD202.html
Following a recent announcement of investing in its solar affiliate, Kenmos Technology is expected to start volume production of thin-film solar cells in the third quarter of 2008, according to the company. With a 45% direct stake in this affiliate, Kenmos will partner with NanoPV on solar cell production. The backlight unit (BLU) maker will sign a partnership contract with NanoPV on September 6. Kenmos and its related companies hold a total stake of about 60% in this affiliate, according to Kenmos.
NanoPV has sales channels in both Europe and the US, which implies that sales channels are guaranteed, according to Kenmos as cited by a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. The company also noted that validation via NanoPV only requires three to four months, which could help speed up its time-to-market schedule.
Investment is slated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2007. Related production facilities will be located at Kenmos’ present production plant in the Southern Taiwan Science Park. Capacity should be available in 2008 with an initial capacity of 10 peak megawatt (MWp) and later to expand to 30MWp.
Industry sources indicated that Kenmos is going to produce thin-film solar cells in dimensions of 0.635×1.4m, a dimension that fits US standards and is easy for assembly. This dimension is also the mainstream with a global market share of 60%, they added.
Chun-I Wu, Kenmos chairman, was cited by the Commercial Times report as saying that NanoPV delivers a power conversion efficiency of 8%, versus the market average of 5-6%. He anticipates the developed solar cells could be later applied to consumer electronics.
A persistent shortage of polysilicon is drawing more companies to shift to developing thin-film solar cells. In Taiwan, Green Energy Technology tied up with Applied Materials on related field development. NexPower Technology, which is co-established by Unimicron Technology and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), inherits its thin-film solar cell production technology from Ulvac. NanoWin Technology and CMC Magnetics landed their thin-film solar cell production technology from Oerlikon.