Solar Cells Info

Source: SolarWorld AG, press release/ DGAP /Sept 1, 2008
http://www.dgap.de/link.php?von=19970101&typ=news&isin=DE0005108401
&sprache=en&a=10&v=en&id=298578

By conferring the SolarWorld Einstein Award SolarWorld AG again pays tribute in 2008 to trail-blazing achievements around the development of
solar power technology. The solar technology group bestows this solar award carrying the highest prize money in the photovoltaic industry upon people who have acquired special merits in the development of photovoltaic technology. The award ceremony will take place on 1 September 2008 on the
occasion of the 23rd European Photovoltaic Conference in Valencia. ‘Commitment, independent thinking and innovative strength are crucial
qualities needed to advance photovoltaic technology and thus climate-friendly power generation worldwide’, says Dipl.-Ing. Frank H.
Asbeck, Chairman and CEO of SolarWorld AG. ‘With the SolarWorld Einstein Award we want to alert people to this fact’. The SolarWorld Senior Einstein
Award for outstanding lifetime achievements is being presented for the fourth time; the SolarWorld Junior Einstein Award for young generation
scientists for the third time.

SolarWorld Senior Einstein Award goes to Professor Luque Lopez of Madrid
University

Professor Antonio Luque Lopez of the Institute for Solar Energy at Madrid University is the winner of the SolarWorld Senior Einstein Award 2008. The
67-year-old Spaniard is among the leading international pioneers in photovoltaic technology and has rendered great services to the development
of new concepts for solar cells. Thus, Antonio Luque Lopez started developing the double-sided solar cell in 1976 that can, for example,
convert light reflected from the ground into electrical energy. The scientist who is currently among other things coordinating a Europe-wide
research project for new solar cell concepts has received numerous awards including the Becquerel Prize awarded by the European Union. In addition,
he is a member of the Academia de la Ingeniería de España and has seats on many scientific advisory boards of research institutes, scientific journals
and organizations. As Head of the Institute for Solar Energy at Madrid University Antonio Luque Lopez has also made a major contribution since 1979 to the
development of young generation scientists.

SolarWorld Junior Einstein Award Winner: Bram Hoex of Eindhoven University

One such young generation scientist is the Dutchman Bram Hoex, the recipient of this year’s SolarWorld Junior Einstein Award. In his doctoral
thesis the physicist who started his academic career at the Technical University of Eindhoven investigates alternative coating technologies for
the production of silicon-based solar cells. By using aluminum oxide instead of silicon nitride for the passivation of the surface it was
possible to reduce the electrical losses which could then be translated into an improvement of the overall efficiency of the solar cell to 23.2 per
cent in cooperation with some research institutes. It is true that the positive properties of aluminum oxide have been known for a long time, but
Bram Hoex was the first to succeed in creating such layers and in putting this idea into industrial practice. It is another step towards making solar
power more competitive. The jurors considered this to be worthy of an award.