Solar Cells Info

by Mark Scott , May 12, 2009
Source: BusinessWeek.com
http://www.businessweek.com/investing/green_business/
archives/2009/05/clouds_remain_o.html

Here’s a quick temperature gauge of the global solar market. Germany’s Q-Cells, the world’s largest maker of solar cells, reported a first-quarter net loss of €391.9 million ($534 million) on May 12 and cut its 2009 sales targets to between $1.8 billion and $2.2 billion — down from a previously announced $2.3 billion-to-$2.9 billion range. On the same day, German solar module manufacturer Solon similarly announced a first-quarter net loss of $25.2 million, adding the company expects to report a further loss for the current financial quarter. (more…)

by Nancy Cheng, Taipei; Adam Hwang
Source: DIGITIMES, 5 May 2009
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090505PD201.html

Switzerland-based Oerlikon, in preparation for fast emerging orders for production equipment of amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules from the Asian market once the global economy recovers, will outsource the production of such equipment to Singapore-based EMS provider Flextronics International, with components supply from Taiwan-based makers, according to Oerlikon Taiwan. (more…)

by Nuying Huang, Taipei; Adam Hwang
Source: DIGITIMES, 28 April 2009
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090428PD200.html

Kinmac Solar (renamed from Lucky Power Technology), a Taiwan-based maker of BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaic) modules, has decided to establish a joint-venture assembly plant for making PV modules with Jinzhou Yangguang Energy, a maker of solar-grade monocrystalline silicon ingots/wafers in northeastern China. (more…)

by Dawn Huang, Taipei; Adam Hwang
Source: DIGITIMES, 30 April 2009
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090430PD204.html

Everphoton Energy has won an open bid held by Taiwan’s Institute of Nuclear Energy Research of the Cabinet-level Atomic Energy Council to set up a 200KWp high-concentration PV (HCPV) system in southern Taiwan, with completion scheduled for mid-August 2009, according to the company. In addition to the project, Everphoton will set up a demonstration CPV power-generating system using solar cells made from III-V compound semiconductors which it will complete by the end of September 2009, the company indicated. (more…)

by Nuying Huang, Taipei; Adam Hwang
Source: DIGITIMES, 7 May 2009
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090507PD201.html

The China government plans to sharply raise the 2020 goal for the total installation volume of photovoltaic (PV) power-generating systems around the country from 1.8GWp currently to 10GWp or even 20GWp, industry sources in Taiwan cited China-based media as reporting. (more…)

by Nuying Huang, Taipei; Adam Hwang
Source: DIGITIMES, 20 May 2009
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090520PD200.html

The China government has seen applicants asking for subsidies for BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaic) projects totaling 500MWp in the first round of applications under its solar subsidization program, according to industry sources in Taiwan.  The government is offering subsidies of 20 yuan (US$2.9)/W for projects with a minimum installation size of 50KW. (more…)

by Frost and Sullivan, London, 11 May 2009
http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/press-release.pag?docid=167428688

Increased competition and the global economic crisis have cast clouds upon the Western European solar energy market. Falling polysilicon and solar module prices have the potential to cement China’s role as a solar manufacturing hub. In terms of installed capacity, the United States is playing a greater role as more and more states are putting the renewable energy standards into existence. Despite these market developments and the current economic crisis, the future of Europe’s solar energy market continues to appear bright as new emerging markets within Europe may turn into strong performers. (more…)

by Nuying Huang, Taipei; Adam Hwang
Source: DIGITIMES, 26 May 2009
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090526PD200.html

Taiwan-based Neo Solar Power on May 25 announced the successful trial production of Supercell, a polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) solar cell with an energy conversion rate of 16.8%. Volume production will begin soon, the company said. The energy conversion rate of Supercell is higher than those of ordinary poly-Si solar cells by 0.6-1 percentage point due to increased absorption of solar light and improved metal electrodes, Neo Solar said. Since the production of Supercell does not entail additional equipment, it will help increase Neo Solar’s overall gross margin, the company indicated. (more…)

by Tom Cheyney, PVTech, 26 May 2009
http://www.pv-ech.org/chip_shots/_a/
exclusive_a_conversation_with_first_solars_bruce_sohn_part_ii–we_sell_elec/

Although First Solar has indeed ramped 23 module production lines across its three manufacturing sites (with the 24th soon to follow), the company remains notoriously guarded about the inner workings of its processes and manufacturing facilities as well as its R&D activities. Not coming close to taking the bait, Sohn won’t answer any specific questions about film thickness uniformities or process temperature ranges or whether the research team is working on next-generation tandem-junction CdTe or even its own version of copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide (CIGS). Nevertheless, he does shed some light on the company’s overall approach. (more…)

by Tom Cheyney, PVTech, 25 May 2009

http://www.pv-tech.org/chip_shots/_a/an_interview_with_first_solars_bruce_sohn_part_I/

At First Solar’s corporate headquarters in Tempe, Arizona, a morale-boosting slogan adorns posters stuck to the outside of cubicle partitions: “MILESTONE MADE! TEN ONE ONE.” That’s “Ten,” for 10 years in business–at least in the company’s First Solar incarnation. The original firm Glasstech Solar, led by visionary Harold McMaster, actually set up shop in 1984, then became Solar Cells, Inc. in 1992, which begat the present entity in 1999. The middle “One” stands for the gigawatt’s worth of panels produced in the solar module factories in Ohio, Germany, and Malaysia – as well as the annual production capacity that will be ramped by the end of 2009. The final “One” stands for perhaps the biggest accomplishment of all–the dollar-per-manufactured-watt standard beaten by two cents by First Solar in the final quarter of 2008, a cost that has since shrunk to 93 cents per watt in the first quarter of 2009. But then, “Ten/One/0.93” doesn’t quite have the same ring. (more…)