• 

  First Solar cuts output but attempts to safeguard jobs at German plant

  4 hours ago

  Last November, First Solar celebrated the production of its one millionth module at its Frankfurt (Oder) plant. This year, the company has announced plans to reduce production as declining subsidies reduce European demand.

• 

  Enel Green Power and Sharp solar could be penalised for Altomonte acquisition

  09 February 2012, 14:22

  The Italian antitrust authority, AGCM, has opened proceedings against Enel Green Power and Sharp solar. It claims they failed to inform the authorities prior to closing a deal for the acquisition of Altomonte FV.

• 

  Bekaert Advanced Coatings and Soleras merge in thin-film partnership

  07 February 2012, 16:38

  Private equity firm Element Partners has announced that it is to acquire both Bekaert Advanced Coatings (BAC) and Soleras Ltd, with the two companies merging to form Soleras Advanced Coatings.

• OPEL Technologies announces management change

  07 February 2012, 15:29

• Abound Solar claims CdTe thin-film modules with 12%-plus efficiency coming soon

  07 February 2012, 11:06

• Alta Devices’ solar panel receives NREL verification of 23.5% efficiency

  06 February 2012, 10:49

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  MoNa sputtering targets from Plansee offer higher CIGS cell efficiencies

  09 February 2012, 15:19

  Plansee High Performance Materials has added MoNa sputtering targets with high purity and a uniform and fine-grained microstructure to its product offering. Tests in cooperation with the Swiss EMPA institute have claimed the MoNa targets to be superior to alternative targets. Using Na-doped molybdenum layers, the efficiency of CIGS solar cells are said to have been significantly improved.

• 

  Second-generation ThinFab turnkey system from Oerlikon Solar sets lowest module costs

  26 January 2012, 17:03

  Oerlikon Solar’s 2nd generation ThinFab turnkey system is claimed to enable a CapEx reduction of more than 20%. The estimated price for the complete end-to-end production line is just US$1/Wp including engineering support and performance guarantees. The production line is claimed to produce high quality thin film silicon modules for cost of around $ 0.5/Wp (€ 0.35/Wp), a new record-low in the solar industry.

• 

  Tanaka provides silver ink hardened by UV irradiation under room temperature conditions

  24 January 2012, 17:18

  Tanaka Precious Metals has introduced what it claims is the world’s first conductive silver ink capable of forming electronic circuits using only hardening by ultraviolet (UV) light without the need for hardening by heating. A total of three silver inks using different types of resin and reaction initiator will be available and users can select the materials according to their manufacturing equipment and application.

• Dr Schenk’s SolarMeasure I-V Curve Tracer offers individual cell electrical characterization

  23 November 2011, 12:09

• Bystronic’s photovoltaic-TPA system offers continuous encapsulation and sealing of thin-film modules

  09 November 2011, 21:55

• TCO thin-film coatings from NSG offer wide-application optimization

  05 October 2011, 14:42

• Plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition of ZnO for photovoltaic TCO application

  In terms of material properties, plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) of ZnO has advantages over sputtering techniques, due to the variety of available precursors, different dopants for achieving certain levels of n-type and, even controversially discussed, p-type transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) on various substrate materials. This paper considers the deposition of boron-doped zinc oxide for n-type TCO-application on substrates of dimensions up to 50×50cm2 and at a temperature range of 50 to 450°C using a PECVD reactor with a plasma frequency of 13.56MHz. The materials’ characteristics such as transparency, carrier concentration and structural properties are discussed as a function of the deposition parameters. The deposition temperature strongly affects the crystallographic and morphological appearance of the deposited thin films, which was investigated using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods. The electronic band structure-dependent characteristics were studied using ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy and Hall measurements. Second ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements complete the characterization methods for qualitatively verifying the incorporation of dopants and impurities. Results are reported for columnar-grown boron-doped ZnO with optical transparency greater than 80% in the visible range and a maximum carrier concentration of 1020cm-3.

• Critical subsystems for thin-film PV manufacturing equipment

  Sales of critical subsystems used in thin-film PV manufacturing equipment are expected to reach $325M in 2011, and the outlook is for this figure to grow by 4% in 2012 to $335M. This expectation is going against the trend for the industry as a whole, which is predicted to decline next year as revenues from cell and module manufacturing weaken. The reason for this countermovement is the opportunities available to manufacturers who are willing to invest in the latest thin-film PV equipment to drive down costs and force unprofitable competitors out of business. While the same opportunities exist for crystalline silicon manufacturing, the number of well-resourced companies signalling their intention to invest in thin-film technologies should ensure a positive year for suppliers of equipment and critical subsystems to this segment of the industry.

• Structure and stability of a-Si/µc-Si tandem solar cells deposited on LPCVD-grown ZnO:B and sputtere

• Reactive magnetron sputtering of ZnO:Al

• Polarized light metrology for thin-film photovoltaics: Manufacturing-scale processes

• Industry–academia partnership helps drive commercialization of new thinfilm silicon technology

Most Popular

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• News
• Blog Posts
• TV & Video

• 1. What is the real PV technology roadmap?

• 2. CIGS finance - the end of the [credit] line for VCs?

• 3. Alta Devices’ solar panel receives NREL verification of 23.5% efficiency

• 4. Lawsuit filed against US government over allegations of offering US$1.2 billion bailout of SunPower

• 5. Hemlock Semiconductor revenue impacted by polysilicon glut

• 1. Alta Devices’ solar panel receives NREL verification of 23.5% efficiency

• 2. Lawsuit filed against US government over allegations of offering US$1.2 billion bailout of SunPower

• 3. Hemlock Semiconductor revenue impacted by polysilicon glut

• 4. Jobs lost as Sanyo decides to shut down California factory

• 5. Roth & Rau posts 2011 revenue of €208 million; plans faster restructuring and job losses

• 1. PV module costs and prices–what is really happening?

• 2. Other than First Solar, who holds a low-cost manufacturing benchmark?

• 3. Solar short takes: Suniva implements ion implantation, First Solar turns knobs, CIGS gets purified

• 4. Eye on Stion, Part II: Getting a taste of tandem-junction CIGS PV layer cake

• 5. Don’t look now, but UK PV installation figures are out

• 1. DuPont discusses expected breakthrough in silver paste performance to cost ratio

• 2. PV-Tech Newscast - September 8, 2011

• 3. PV-Tech Newscast - September 2, 2011

• 4. Canadian Solar: Dr. Shawn Qu discusses ELPS technology & ‘virtually-integrated scale’ manufacturing

• 5. PV-Tech Newscast - September 30 2011

Publications

• 

  Photovoltaics International 14th Edition

  Published in November 2011, the 14th edition of Photovoltaics International provides a variety of technical papers from some of the industry’s stalwarts. Features include: TÜV Rheinland on junction box testing; Laser Zentrum Hannover on laser edge isolation of mc-Si cells; Calisolar on the importance of traceability; Fraunhofer ISE on EWT cells; and EPIA on Europe’s LCOE.

• 

  Photovoltaics International Lite, Volume 05 - 2011

  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: The 2011 Production Annual

  Manufacturing the Solar Future is the primary source guide for detailed information on the PV production process. This annual provides technical details on how the leading companies and research organizations worldwide are addressing this need by dramatically improving their manufacturing processes.