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This sixteenth edition of Photovoltaics International marks four years of production of the quarterly journal. As always, our focus is on efficiency and quality improvement and cost reduction in manufacturing. As 2012 rolls along, companies are falling by the wayside due to supply and demand issues, ASP declines and drastic governmental subsidy cuts. A clear picture of 2012 is offered through papers from the likes of TÜV Rheinland, Fraunhofer ISE, SEMI PV Group and EPIA, amongst others.
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This digital interactive Lite sees Tom Cheyney follow Agua Caliente’s progress on becoming one of first truly utility-scale PV power farms, where 40–50MW (AC) will be commissioned by the end of the year. We also feature one of the world’s largest silicon thin-film PV power plants, Avenal; a report on warnings of the collapse of module prices from Solarbuzz and PI-Berlin presents tips on PV module testing. A print version of this edition will be distributed at Solar Power International 2011 in Dallas, Texas.
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Manufacturing the Solar Future 2012, the second in the Photovoltaics International PV Production Annual series, delivers the next installment of in-depth technical manufacturing information on PV production processes.
Comments
I am not convinced this is financially viable. $600mio CapEx gives a product overhead of $0.41 /W (assumptions: 355 employees, 0.7 overhead and $0.04recycling assuming 10 year write down of CapEx and no future investements and 320MW/year). This doesn’t include the additional overhead of 100 high paid experts in NY.
The first mass production comes off in 2013 - c-Si modules will most likely be at or even below $0.70/Wp by then (based on Polysilicon at $30/Kg). How will GE (or indeed FS) manufacture panels for a material input cost of less than $0.29/W (the glass alone will be around $0.11-0.12/W - 0.72m2 / 90Wp - add to this a junction box, cables, connectors and frame) and still turn a profit?
Does this mean that CdTe and CIGS will end up becoming more and more priced into marginalised markets / high temperature / dust / low light regions?