Solar Cells Info

October 18, 2006
Sion Barry, Western Mail

Source; ICWales
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0300business/0100news/

Wales has secured a 300-job inward investment project pioneering groundbreaking solar power technology, which could allow consumers to recharge electronic devices as they walk.

US start-up venture G24i yesterday announced it is bringing a £60m dye sensitised solar cells manufacturing facility to Cardiff – at the site of the former Acer plant.

The company is pioneering what it claims is the world’s lightest, most efficient and least expensive solar technology. Its innovative material will initially be made to power devices such as mobile phones, handheld games consoles, MP3 players and laptop computers. It could also be incorporated into fabrics to make ‘smart’ textiles – allowing people to recharge devices while on the move.

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18 December 2004
New Scientist Print Edition.
source: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6802

Imagine wearing a jacket or rucksack that charges up your mobile phone while you take a walk. Or a tent whose flysheet charges batteries all day so campers can have light all night. Or a roll-out plastic sheet you can place on a car’s rear window shelf to power a child’s DVD player.

Such applications could soon become a reality thanks to a light, flexible solar panel that is a little thicker than photographic film and can easily be applied to everyday fabrics. The thin, bendy solar panels, which could be on the market within three years, are the fruit of a three-nation European Union research project called H-Alpha Solar (H-AS).

The new solar panels will be cheap, too, because they can be mass-produced in rolls that can be cut as required and wrapped around clothes, fabrics, furniture or even rooftops. “This technology will be a lot easier to handle than the old glass solar panels,” claims Gerrit Kroesen, the physicist from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands who led the development team.

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Solar panels can be used for numerous applications, broken down into 2 categories:
“Grid-connected” applications and Remote areas applications.

1) Grid-connected” applications”

Photovoltaic panels are integrated into buildings, thus coupling PV energy with the Electricity Board power supply network.

1. Photovoltaic modules 2.Inverters 3. Network 4.Lighting
5. Household applications
6. Energy metering < produced by the customer > supplied to the customer

Direct current from the solar modules is transformed into alternating current via an invertor, which can then be directly used to supply power to the electric appliances in a building. The surplus supplied by the panels is sent onto the grid and resold.

Remote areas applications

– Remote sites: lighting, radio, television, small household appliances
– Public lighting: advertising signage, bus shelters
– Rural electrification
– Pumping
– Telecommunications: infrastructure, GSM relays, remote subscriber station
– Signage: road signs, maritime beacons, radio, television

1. PV modules 2. Regulation charge/discharge, storage batteries
3. Lighting 4. Refrigeration 5. Household appliances

The installation power supply is independent, i.e. there is no connection to the grid.

LPV modules convert sun rays into direct current. The electricity produced is stored in a battery. When there is insufficient sunshine and light, at night for example, the battery restores the power needed for the installation to function. A regulator protects the battery.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 16

Source:
http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/weather/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/3122/20061016/0821277536.htm

SunPower Corporation (SPWR), a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of the world’s highest efficiency, commercially available solar cells and solar panels, today announced its newest solar panel, offering significantly higher power output and conversion efficiency than its current products. The new SPR-315 solar panel utilizes the company’s newly developed 22-percent-efficient Gen 2 solar cells and carries a rated power output of 315 watts.

“SunPower continues to lead the solar industry with its innovative technology and smart design,” said Peter Aschenbrenner, vice president of marketing and sales. “Our new SPR-315 solar panel breaks the 300 watt power barrier while offering even higher efficiency than SunPower’s previous industry-leading products.

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By Michael Kanellos
http://news.com.com/Sharp+expanding+beyond+silicon+in+solar/2100-1008_3-6126899.html
Story last modified Tue Oct 17, 2006

SAN JOSE, Calif.–Sharp Electronics, one of the largest manufacturers of silicon solar panels, is experimenting with new materials.

At the Solar Power 2006 Conference and Expo here, the company is showing off several prototype solar panels and a new system it hopes will increase efficiency and make it easier to install new solar systems. One prototype solar panel combines a tiny solar cell measuring about a quarter of an inch per side that sits beneath a Fresnel lens (a ridged lens originally used in lighthouses), which radically concentrates sunlight. Further improving its performance, the solar panel rotates with the sun.

Overall, Sharp says the panel can convert 36 percent of the sunlight that strikes it into electricity, far higher than the 13 to 22 percent conversion rates of commercial silicon solar cells.

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New Screen Printing and Silicon Growth Processes Result in More Efficient and Cost Effective Cells and Modules

Press Release from BP Solar
October 16, 2006, San Jose, CA

BP Solar today unveiled its new Mono2 prototype module at the opening of the Solar Power 2006 Conference and Exhibition. The new product combines BP Solar’s recently announced silicon growth process with a new screen printing process, called Nuline(TM), to improve solar cell and overall module efficiency. Mono2 products will offer the efficiency and appearance of mono-crystalline products at a production cost similar to multi-crystalline products.

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With enough power for 1,000 average homes, Google’s will be the largest solar electricity installation of any company in the country.

By Mark LaPedus/ EE Times  Oct 17, 2006
source:
http://www.informationweek.com/industries/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=193303376

SAN JOSE, Calif. — EI Solutions, the systems integration arm of Energy Innovations Inc., will begin constructing a solar electricity system for Google’s Mountain View, Calif.-based headquarters.

With a total capacity of 1.6 megawatts — enough to supply 1,000 average California homes — Google’s headquarters will be the largest solar installation on any corporate campus in the United States and one of the largest on any corporate site in the world, according to the search engine specialist.

The project will involve 9,212 solar panels provided by Sharp Electronics. A majority will be placed on the rooftops of some of the buildings in the “Googleplex” and parking lots. The solar energy will be used to power several of Google’s Mountain View office facilities.

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Spruce Line™ Photovoltaic Modules of Evergreen Solar : 190, 180 & 170W

Spruce Line™ Photovoltaic Module

Designed to deliver the best in performance and dependability from Evergreen Solar’s patented String Ribbon™ technology.

Superior Performance
* Maximum power up to 4% above rated, minimum power only 2% below rated
* Anti-reflection cover glass delivers more energy
* Power calibrated by three renowned independent tests laboratories

Extreme Durability
* Backed by a 25 year limited power warranty; 2 year workmanship warranty
* A rigid, double walled, deep frame with integrated water drainage holes
* Crimped frame corners – no screws to ever come loose
* Sealed junction box never needs field maintenance

Leading Environmental Credentials
* Low energy – an energy payback time as rapid as 18 months, up to 40% faster than other leading crystalline technologies
* Low carbon – only 30g of carbon dioxide emissions per equivalent kWh of electricity generated, up to 33% less than other leading crystalline technologies
* Low lead – use of lead-free solder for all String Ribbon solar cell inter-connections

Evergreen Solar Announces $100 Million Sales Agreement With Mainstream Energy, LLC

MARLBORO, Mass., Oct 16, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) —

Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR), a manufacturer of solar power products with its proprietary, low-cost String Ribbon(TM) wafer technology, today announced that it has entered into a four-year supply contract with Mainstream Energy, LLC, which has systems integration and distribution subsidaries involved in the sales, distribution and installation of residential and commercial solar electric systems nationwide. Under the terms of the agreement, Evergreen Solar will ship approximately $100 million of photovoltaic modules to Mainstream Energy over the next four years.

“We continue to align ourselves with recognized leaders in the solar industry,” said Terry Bailey, Evergreen Solar’s Senior VP Marketing and Sales. “Mainstream Energy will play a significant role in our effort to further penetrate the U.S. marketplace. The size of the deal also reflects our confidence in achieving our current expansion plans and is further affirmation of the prospects for our String Ribbon technology.”

“Evergreen Solar represents an important strategic partner for us,” stated David Katz, President of AEE Solar, a Mainstream Energy subsidiary. “We value their commitment to innovation and long-term vision for the industry. We view them as a solar technology pioneer that is making considerable strides in improving cell efficiencies and more importantly, lowering the overall costs of solar power.”

The Mainstream sales agreement is Evergreen Solar’s sixth major contract in the past 12 months. The value of these six contracts totals more than $700 million over the next five years. The photovoltaic modules will be manufactured at Evergreen Solar’s plant in Massachusetts and at EverQ’s German factory, which is currently being expanded. EverQ is a strategic partnership between Evergreen Solar, Q-Cells AG of Germany and Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC) of Norway.

Nanosolar startup aims for largest solar-cell manufacturing facility in California

Mark LaPedus, EE Times  June 21, 2006
Source: http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189600110

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A startup originally funded by Google Inc. Wednesday (June 21) announced a $100 million financing package and set plans to build what the company claims as the world’s largest solar-cell manufacturing facility in California.

Presently in pilot production in its Palo Alto, Calif.-based facility, the solar-cell startup — Nanosolar — has started ordering volume production equipment for use in a factory said to have a total annual cell output of 430-megawatts (MW) once fully built out, or approximately 200 million cells per year.

The company’s first volume factory will be located in the San Francisco Bay area. Nanosolar (Palo Alto, Calif.) also said that its first panel fab, designed for a broad array of novel product form factors using advanced processes, is expected to be located in Berlin, Germany.

California is positioning itself as one of the largest users of solar energy in the United States. Recently, the California Public Utilities Commission proposed the California Solar Initiative (CSI), the largest solar energy bill in U.S. history. It will establish an 11-year solar rebate program for new and retrofit installations of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, worth $3.2 billion.

Meanwhile, originally funded by the founders of search-engine giant Google (Mountain View, Calif.), the five-year-old startup claims to have developed a proprietary nanoparticle ink and fast roll-printing technology.

It makes several products based on thin-film technology. Nanosolar’s A-100 cell technology will be available to the general public in 2007. SolarPly is the company’s flagship building-integrated product, which consists of a large-area, solar-electric “carpet” for integration with commercial roofing membranes.

Nanosolar has garnered more than $10 million in government contracts and $48 million in venture capital to develop a cheap roll-to-roll solar cell manufacturing process on which it is collaborating with Lawrence Berkeley and Sandia National Laboratories. Its copper indium gallium diselenide cells use a low-cost substrate that can be processed without the need for vacuum deposition, creating what Nanosolar claims is the world’s most cost-efficient solar cell.

“Nanosolar’s technology enables low-cost, high-yield production previously unattainable,” said Chris Eberspacher, Nanosolar’s head of technology, in a statement. “This allows us to produce cells very inexpensively and assemble them into panels that are comparable in efficiency to that of high-volume silicon based PV panels.”

To help propel its fab, Nanosolar announced that it has completed a $100 million funding package. As part of the funding, it also announced a Series C Preferred Stock financing in the amount of more than $75 million.

“This will allow us to further expand our leadership position in solar power innovation,” said Martin Roscheisen, CEO of Nanosolar, in a statement. “We are looking forward to working with our new investors and partners, who have very successful track records in clean energy, to lead the industry on a path of rapidly more cost-efficient solar electricity.”

In addition to participation by the company’s existing investors, including venture firms MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Onpoint and Mitsui, new investors include SAC Capital, GLG Partners, Swiss Re, Grazia Equity, Capricorn Management and Beck.

Also participating was the investment arm of Jeff Skoll, the investment arms of SAP founders Klaus Tschira and Dietmar Hopp and Christian Reitberger, the original backer of Q-Cells, the world’s largest independent silicon cell PV manufacturer.

Not long ago, solar energy was considered a niche market. Now, solar-cell vendors are scrambling to expand their capacities to meet huge demand from homes and businesses worldwide. Companies that have recently announced new and massive solar-cell production plants include Energy Conversion Devices, Evergreen Solar, Sharp, SunPower and Suntech.

Solar is here today, but at about three times the cost of conventionally generated electricity However, thanks to advances in thin-flim technologies, some believe that the cost of solar will be on par with that of conventional electricity within 10 years.