Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

RSS | Newsletter | Advertisers' Hub | About Us | Subscription Shop

Solar Power International 2009 postscripts: Companies take in the view from the vista points

04 November 2009 | By Tom Cheyney | Chip Shots

Every company has its own vantage point on the industry or industries it’s part of, but some have a more panoramic view of, or at least special insights into, the interlocking links of the value and supply chains. I’ll call them “vista point” companies, in honor of those highway turnouts throughout California where drivers can pull off the road and check out amazing views of the ocean, mountains, or valleys.

The solar market has one obvious group of downstream vista pointers—the systems integrators that deal with many makes and models of modules, inverters, system optimization gadgets and components, and the rest of the BOS laundry list. The guys who put the panels on the roofs or in the fields usually know which products and systems work the best, and under what conditions. But farther upstream on Value River dwell other folks who have a pretty good view of those ever-flowing currents. I spoke with several of them at the recent Solar Power International show in Anaheim.
spi09_2

There would be no photovoltaics industry without the materials suppliers, whose products range from feedstock to elements lurking within the finished/installed system. Dow Corning, like many other multinational molecule masters, makes solar a very high priority and has positioned itself as a “materials house for the industry,” according to the company’s VP for the market area, Eric Peeters.

He reminded me that to support the PV manufacturing sector’s projected consumption growth, thousands and thousands of tons of materials will be needed from companies like his, which supplies polysilicon feedstock through its Hemlock Semiconductor operation as well as smaller quantities of UV-resistant silicone, potting gels, adhesives, and other goodies for the moduling side of the business.

Since he sees many different PV technologies likely to be around for a long time, he told me that DC wants to be “tech agnostic,” noting the current construction of the new monosilane factory next door to Hemlock’s Michigan site, which will supply that key chemical to thin-film PV and other manufacturers in the first half of 2011.

Peeters emphasized that “you can’t deal with cell and module innovation separately…. The industry must align its roadmaps for both cells and modules.” While he is not the first to emphasize this linkage, the more general point is the need for the industry to improve and unify its roadmapping efforts in general, although trying to get the disparate pieces of the sector to find common ground is not always easy.

One area of innovation at DC involves the replacement of EVA in modules with its own lower-cost, more durable encapsulant material, developed and demonstrated on the company’s 100MW-equivalent module process integration/pilot line over the past few years. The company already has preferred and authorized equipment suppliers lined up ready to incorporate the two-step dispense process into their toolsets, and turnkey solutions will be ready in 2010, according to the company veep. Although engineers and their managers are usually reticent to change out an established process material, Peeters claims the majority of the top 20 players are quite interested.

Dow Corning’s partnership with the tool suppliers offers all involved some nice vista points overlooking Value River. Another example of virtual vertical integration with a view comes in the form of the new Reliathon utility-scale integrated platform led by Suntech. The module maker has improved the design and performance and expanded the warranty on its new self-aligning 270W panel, but equally if not more importantly has brought together a group of inverter and tracker companies to offer the major EPC companies a united front and packages of preferential pricing and prenegotiated contracts.

Noting a “deeper understanding and more synergy” between Suntech and its system-component partners, VP Andrew Beebe cited the combined efforts of Suntech and Array Technologies to modify Array’s tracker to work better with the new utility modules, reducing the materials cost while doubling the reliability of the unit. He also said his company negotiated for five months with the inverter companies before coming to terms. Something about the potential of landing a gigawatt or so of business may have helped convince the DC:AC guys.

The modularity of the Reliathon platform allows for the inclusion of future partners’ components or software. Beebe mentioned ABB and RayTracker as intriguing candidates, said they are working with National Semiconductor’s SolarMagic team and are looking at other system optimization and monitoring options, and would consider partnering with companies offering anything from smart grid solutions to large-scale energy storage to something as seemingly basic as a better combiner box.

“If the customers want anything else, we would bring it in,” he said. “We are trying to enable all aspects of the photovoltaic electricity chain.” While Suntech’s “enabler of all things” strategy is both ambitious and risky—whatever happened to focusing on one’s core competencies?--if nothing else, it will give Suntech and its partners a particularly scenic vista point to take in the PV landscape.

When it comes to a view of spectacular scenery though, the testing companies have a desirable spot, akin to what the late, great baseball announcer Red Barber called the “catbird seat.” They see just about every kind of module and run them through a rugged gauntlet of reliability and performance challenges test to get some level of assurance that the PV devices will operate for many years to come. The testers also know where there are gaps in the array of IEC, UL, and other certification processes and standards.
spi09_3
Kurt Scott, R&D director for Atlas Material Testing Solutions, told me that “existing standards don’t address long-term weather reliability,” and that many in the industry are under the “mistaken impression that the standards are there.”

He has started to see movement among the standards-making organizations to address these gaps, although he emphasized the need to “not have duplication of efforts.” He and his colleagues are deeply involved in the testing standards realm, since it is, after all, the company’s “sweet spot.”

Citing another example, Scott said cell temperatures vary significantly, depending on where the cells will be deployed, and that one testing suite does not fit all the possible variations. “There needs to be an environmentally appropriate test,” he said. Otherwise, companies run the danger of under- or overengineering their cells based on incomplete performance information, costing them time and money.

Of course, the testing firm’s standards proactivity is not just about working for the good of the industry, it has a commercial element as well. The recently launched Atlas 25PLUS environmental life testing program runs modules though a 12-month battery of indoor and outdoor stress and degradation exams that the company claims will offer manufacturers more realistic long-term durability data and help module companies to back up their warranties and performance claims.

Few vista points offer the seemingly endless view that access to comprehensive data on failure modes and analyses of just about every PV module on the market provides.