Features

How much carbon is emitted in producing a solar PV module and launching it on the market? This could be an important question which project developers, installers, investors, government agencies and end customers will ask solar PV manufacturers in the future.

With 95% of module shipments in 2011 accounted for by a manufacturing group that is comprised of technologies specific to the c-Si community and thin film manufacturer, First Solar, for those seeking a disruptive alternative to compete with this dominance there are few options that command as much attention as CIGS.

Concern about copper prices is not a recent phenomenon in the history of electrical generation and delivery. In 1879, Thomas Edison calculated that he would need to spend $18,000 to test his first ever electric light system around his lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

Amphenol Industrial is offering a new active trunk and drop cabling solution, in conjunction with Ampt, a designer of active electronics for photovoltaic (PV) solar modules. The new cabling solution is claimed to reduce the cost of commercial and utility-scale PV systems.

GT Advanced Technologies has developed the ‘Acuity’ software, as a comprehensive performance management solution that lets operators optimize the performance of GT’s ‘DSS’ family of crystal growth furnaces. Acuity performance software monitors DSS production data providing PV manufacturers with real-time insight into actual versus ideal equipment performance. By understanding these performance gaps, companies can make more informed decisions to ensure that DSS furnaces perform at optimal levels of efficiency run after run.

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.

Rainwise has recently released the PVmet Solar Energy Efficiency Monitor, a weather station specifically designed to improve accurate monitoring of PV plant performance parameters. The monitoring system is said to be the first weather station to be recognized by SunSpec Alliance for compatibility with industry plant management systems and has already sold 500 units to 2 of the top inverter manufacturers worldwide.

2011 was hardly a vintage year for thin-film solar in the US. Doubts about revenue-ready technologies based on copper, indium, gallium and selenide coalesced around the Solyndra bankruptcy in August. In December, First Solar decided it could not replicate its success in cadmium telluride, and shuttered its CIGS division.

PSE has introduced its new mechanical load test stand for the more realistic and comprehensive determination of mechanical stress from wind and snow loads.