• 

  Ascent Solar enters agreement to integrate solar panels in Chinese railway stations

  1 hour ago

  Ascent Solar has entered into a development agreement with Shenzhen Radiant Enterprise and the Third Railway Survey and Design Institute (TSDI), the company has announced. Under the agreement, the three companies aim to install Ascent solar panels into already existing as well as future railway stations in China. TSDI has been involved in designing over 50,000km of Chinese railways, as well as the design of the Beijing South railway station.

• 

  First Solar announces plans to open office in the United Arab Emirates

  18 May 2012, 12:31

  First Solar has announced plans to open an office in the United Arab Emirates, according to Bloomberg reports, in order to meet the demand for solar energy in the Middle East. The company is currently negotiating with potential partners about contracts and a possible production plant in the UAE, as First Solar’s technical development manager Karim Asali commented.

• 

  Thin-film solar firms urged to expand into solar PV systems to stay abreast in today’s solar market

  16 May 2012, 18:09

  A report from Digitimes has provided musings on how thin-film face an uphill battle in the current market.  According to the report, solar firms will need to segue from being thin-film solar module providers to solar PV system project designers and suppliers in order to stay competitive. According to the report, as silicon-based solar product prices drop, thin-film solar products have been sidelined, especially during the past year.

• New Axuntek CIGS modules incorporate DuPont PV5400 ionomer encapsulant

  16 May 2012, 10:45

• DuPont Solamet PV17x enables lightly doped emitter technology

  15 May 2012, 15:49

• Soltecture opens insolvency proceedings

  10 May 2012, 09:28

• 

  Dedicated dye sensitized solar reference cell from Konica Minolta offer temperature stability

  03 May 2012, 10:21

  Konica Minolta Sensing Americas has introduced the AK-300 PV Reference Cell, which is claimed to be the world’s first for dye-sensitized solar cells. The AK-300 was developed in conjunction with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and utilized Konica Minolta Sensing’s advanced optical filter technology. The reference cell has been designed using an optical filter mounted on a stable crystalline silicon solar cell rather than using traditional dye materials.

• 

  Silver paste from DuPont offers lower processing temperatures for thin film solar cells

  24 April 2012, 09:33

  DuPont Microcircuit Materials (MCM) has introduced ‘DuPont Solamet PV416’ photovoltaic metallization paste used to raise the efficiency of thin film photovoltaic cells. The front-side silver paste material has the capability to be processed at temperatures below 140°C, and is designed to provide improved contact resistance, conductivity, adhesion and fine line resolution when printed on Transparent Conductive Oxides (TCOs). The new paste has been claimed to have boosted CIGS thin-film manufacturer, Midsummer AB’s cell efficiencies by as much as 0.5%.

• 

  UNECS-2000 spectroscopic ellipsometer from Ulvac designed for fast R&D needs

  23 February 2012, 15:46

  ULVAC Technologies has introduced the UNECS-2000 spectroscopic ellipsometer for the high speed measurement of film thickness and optical constants of thin films in R&D applications.

• MoNa sputtering targets from Plansee offer higher CIGS cell efficiencies

  09 February 2012, 15:19

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

  26 January 2012, 17:03

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

  24 January 2012, 17:18

• Crystalline silicon thin foils: Where crystalline quality meets thin-film processing

  Today, crystalline-Si photovoltaics (PV) dominate the market, accounting for more than 85% of market share in 2010. A large scientific community made up of academic as well as industrial stakeholders strives to find solutions to improve device efficiencies and to drive down costs. One of the important cost elements of a module is the c-Si wafer itself. This paper discusses the fabrication of a carpet of c-Si foils on glass, either by layer transfer of an epitaxially-grown layer or by bonding of a very thin wafer, and processing this c-Si thin-foil device into a photovoltaic module. This could constitute an advantageous meet-in-the-middle strategy that benefits not only from c-Si material quality but also from thin-film processing developments.

• Si nanorod-based thin-film solar cells on glass

  Advances in nanofabrication for enhancing the efficiency of optical devices, such as solar cells and photo-detectors, via nanostructuring have attracted a great deal of interest. A photoconversion strategy employing nanorods (NRs) has emerged as a powerful way of overcoming the limitations of planar wafer-based or thin-film solar cells. But there is also a broad spectrum of challenges to be tackled when it comes to putting into practice cost-effective NR solar cell concepts. ROD-SOL is a 10-partner, ‘nanotechnology for energy’ project with end-users, equipment manufacturers and institutes from six countries forming the consortium. The aim of the project is to provide the photovoltaic market with a highly efficient (> 10%), potentially low-cost, thin-film solar cell concept on glass, based on silicon nanorods. This paper presents the project’s achievements and discusses what the future might hold for nanotech-based solar energy production.

• Si nanorod-based thin-film solar cells on glass

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

• Critical subsystems for thin-film PV manufacturing equipment

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

Most Popular

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• News
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• 1. Community solar rides into town in new Californian gold rush

• 2. Turning Point 2012: The PV world in motion and what the future holds for Europe

• 3. Polysilicon prices continue decline

• 4. PV-Tech Newscast – May 18, 2012

• 5. Italian subsidy cuts deadline could be pushed back, reports Deutsche Bank

• 1. Polysilicon prices continue decline

• 2. Italian subsidy cuts deadline could be pushed back, reports Deutsche Bank

• 3. Shinsung Solar Energy achieves 20.03% efficiency on cells using LDSE technology

• 4. Five Star Equities looks at impact Saudi Arabia’s US$109B solar plan will have on industry players

• 5. Pluto solar cell wins Collaborative Innovation Award

• 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. PV-Tech Newscast – November 25, 2011

• 2. PV-Tech Newscast – December 16, 2011

• 3. PV-Tech Newscast – December 1, 2011

• 4. Trident Solar details its ‘VersaEtch’ Etchant / n-Dopant material for inkjet SE applications

• 5. PV-Tech Newscast – March 30, 2012

Publications

• 

  Photovoltaics International 15th Edition

  The 15th edition of Photovoltaics International hopes to bring some optimism to 2012 by tackling the key factors on how to cope with the current situation. Contributions come from MIT on using TCAD as a viable method for modelling metal impurity evolution; Alternative Energy Investing presents a comprehensive look at materials cost; and efficiency improvements are on offer by ECN. REC Solar and Tata BP Solar report on module lifetime and IMS Research gives us a brief rundown of 2012 global market expectations.

• 

  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.

• 

  Manufacturing The Solar Future: The 2012 Production Annual

  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.