Solar Cells Info

By Tom Cheyney, Nov 04, 2008
Source: PV-Tech.org
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/_a/
suniva_begins_production_announces_plans_for_second_solar_cell_line/

Suniva confirmed that it has successfully begun production on its 32-MW monocrystalline solar-cell production line in Norcross, GA. The company also said that it plans to install a second fab line next year with double the manufacturing capacity of the first line and will continue its turnkey partnership with centrotherm photovoltaics.  Once the new line is completed in mid-2009, the company will have a total cell-production capacity of 96 MW-peak, with both of the initial lines combining centrotherm integrated equipment and Suniva’s proprietary fabrication techniques. The cell manufacturer said it plans to push the capacity in its first factory to about 175 MWp by early 2010. (more…)

Richard Swanson, SunPower’s President, says there is no equivalent of Moore’s Law in solar, but other things work in the industry’s favor.
by: Ucilia Wang, November 26, 2008
Source: GreenTechMedia.com
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/
the-long-and-winding-solar-road-qs-dick-swanson-5277.html

Solar CEOs like to complain these days about the lack of capital and the difficulty of getting their companies off the ground.  They should talk to Richard Swanson. As a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford in the 70s and 80s, he emerged as a leader in solar research. He co-founded SunPower back in 1985 to capitalize on the growing interest in alternative energy. Still, the company lived from project to project until Cypress Semiconductor invested $150 million into the company in 2002.
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New Facility to Increase KYOCERA’s Global Output to 650 Megawatts Per Year by March 2012
KYOTO, Japan, Nov 14, 2008
Source: Kyocera Corp, press release/BUSINESS WIRE
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/KYOCERA-Announces-Construction-New-Solar/story.aspx?guid=%7B5273C543-7F20-494D-9435-97617222A9F9%7D

Kyocera Corporation (President: Makoto Kawamura) today announced plans to build a new large-scale solar cell manufacturing facility. The new plant, located in Yasu City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, will be the Kyocera Group’s largest manufacturing facility in Japan.  Construction of the plant is planned to start in early 2009 and be completed by year’s end, with production scheduled to begin in the spring of 2010. Combined with Kyocera’s existing Yohkaichi plant, the new facility will permit the company to more than double its annual production of solar cells aEUR- from this year’s projected output of 300 megawatts (MW) to 650MW by March 2012. The new plant will manufacture Kyocera’s new back-contact cell, which yields 18.5% energy conversion efficiency. (more…)

Source: ScienceDaily, Nov. 26, 2008
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081126133435.htm

Currently, solar cells are difficult to handle, expensive to purchase and complicated to install. The hope is that consumers will one day be able to buy solar cells from their local hardware store and simply hang them like posters on a wall.  A new study by researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has shown that the dream is one step closer to reality. Reporting in the Nov. 26 edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Yang Yang, a professor of materials science and engineering, and colleagues describe the design and synthesis of a new polymer, or plastic, for use in solar cells that has significantly greater sunlight absorption and conversion capabilities than previous polymers.
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Source: Nanowerk News, November 25, 2008
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=8370.php

You never know where basic research may lead. For decades materials scientists have been experimenting with a corkscrew-like polymer structure called a gyroid. Now an international team of researchers has shown that the gyroid structure can be used to “self-assemble” a low-cost photovoltaic cell. The idea could lead to more economical solar collectors and more efficient fuel cells. (more…)

Tokyo, November 27, 2008
Source: Reuters/International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/27/business/sharp.php

Sharp of Japan, Enel of Italy and a third manufacturer will invest more than $2.6 billion in Italian solar power ventures to tap growing demand for cleaner energy.  Top solar power firms are hurrying to expand capacity even as the sector smarts from a worsening global economy, which is drying up financing for new ventures and forcing smaller solar power firms to push back investment.  Sharp, the world’s No.2 maker of solar cells after the German company Q-Cells, said it and Enel planned to spend about ¥100 billion, or $1.05 billion, to set up solar power generating plants in Italy with a total generating capacity of 189 megawatts by the end of 2012. (more…)

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, 26 Nov 2008
Source: Associated Press /Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/11/26/ap5749538.html

Sharp said Thursday it’s in talks with Italian utility company Enel to set up a European joint venture to produce solar panels – a move that highlights the Japanese electronics company’s ambitions in this key green business.  “We are considering cooperation with Enel SpA to jointly produce solar cells,” Sharp Corp. (other-otc: SHCAY.PK – news – people ) spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama said, while declining to elaborate. Sharp will give details at a news conference later in the day, she said.
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Source: Frontier India Strategic & Defence, November 30, 2008
http://frontierindia.net/cae/mit-finds-ways-to-boost-solar-cell-efficiency/183/

New ways of squeezing out greater efficiency from solar photovoltaic cells are emerging from computer simulations and lab tests conducted by a team of physicists and engineers at MIT.  Using computer modeling and a variety of advanced chip-manufacturing techniques, they have applied an antireflection coating to the front, and a novel combination of multi-layered reflective coatings and a tightly spaced array of lines — called a diffraction grating — to the backs of ultrathin silicon films to boost the cells’ output by as much as 50 percent.
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Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 29
Source: www.chinaview.cn
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/30/content_10433372.htm

U.S. researchers have taken one step closer to creating high-efficiency solar cells using cheap plastic with a dash of silicon, it was announced on Saturday.  The solar cells, being developed by researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), have significantly greater sunlight absorption and conversation than previous polymers, the university said in a press release on its website.  The researchers want these easy-to-use plastic solar energy cells to be sold at local hardware stores, and then hung like posters on the wall, said the release.
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Current financial crisis could speed up consolidation in PV industry
by: Edwin Koot, CEO solarplaza, 31 October 2008
Source: SolarPlaza.com press release

The global solar energy market in 2008 is expected to grow by 50% compared to 2007. The Chinese solar PV industry is growing rapidly and will soon be the biggest producer of solar cells and modules in the world. There are now over 100 Chinese solar module manufacturers, and even more new market players are expected in the short term. The question is: what might the current credit crisis and pessimistic economic forecasts mean for the PV market and industry in 2009? With solar modules becoming a commodity product, China will definitely be playing a key role as a major producer of solar cells and modules. However, if we look at the maturity of the PV industry right now, and what has happened in other industries, an imminent consolidation phase seems likely. That could mean that fewer producers, and only the bigger ones among them, will survive. So which companies are likely to be the winners, and be reliable business partners for the long term? (more…)