Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

• Popular Technical Papers

  • Photovoltaic Fab Managers’ Forum Review
  • Photovoltaic industry 2009: a journey into uncertainty
  • Overview of automation in the photovoltaic industry
  • Thin-film CIGS starts to come of age
  • CIGS, CdTe thin-film PV equipment sector emerges, standardization remains elusive

• Featured Technical Papers

  • Comparison of different ceramic Al-doped ZnO target materials
  • Understanding the role of abrasives used in the multi-wire sawing process
  • Achievements and challenges in two-step metallization processes for crystalline silicon solar cells
  • Characterization and monitoring technologies for CIGS
  • Laser-assisted selective emitters and the role of laser doping

Anyone familiar with the PV industry can attest to the remarkably accelerated pace of innovation aimed towards generating solar power more cost effectively relative to conventional means. Many of high-technology’s best minds are bringing expertise in materials, manufacturing process, and electronics to tackle the challenge. The resultant gains in cost effective manufacturing, silicon availability and greater irradiance conversion efficiency will make continuous and sustainable impact to cost per kW generated. These advances are akin to the predicable improvements in transistors per mm2 that have fuelled the semiconductor industry for the past 25 years (although we are not yet so bold as to devise the PV version on Moore’s Law). As today, less than 0.01% of electricity generated comes from PV installations [1], demand will materialize and the need for public subsidies will decline as the economics improve. This first in a series of papers, we will investigate the steps required to optimize every solar project by presenting parameters for evaluating solutions for the problem areas.

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