Targray Technology International was selected by Giga Solar Materials as the global distributor for its back surface aluminum paste. The long-term agreement will see Targray distributed the solar cell aluminum paste throughout Europe, North America and India for mono- and multicrystalline silicon solar cells. The paste is said to be designed to for high efficiency, low-bowing, high material compatibility.
Fraunhofer ISE CalLab has certified a 9.8% cell efficiency for Heliatek’s 1.1cm² tandem organic solar cell, which was created with a low temperature deposition process. The company’s in-house measurements have demonstrated that scaling up its record-breaking cells to a panel with a size factor >120 produces efficiency over 9% for the active module area. Heliatek notes that its new record is the third in a row that it has set for efficiency in OPV.
Roth & Rau's has recently improved the cell efficiency on their heterojunction solar cells (HJT) to 21% efficiency on 156mm wafers. Presented at the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition in Hamburg at the beginning of September this year, Roth & Rau achieved the first silicon heterojunction cell on 6 inch wafers at an efficiency rating of 20%. This result was later independently confirmed at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE).
India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has awarded PV project contracts worth 350MW to 28 developers in its latest National Solar Mission (NSM) auction. Projects in batch II of phase II were allotted by a reverse bidding process and have an initial completion deadline of March 2013.
With almost perfect conditions for solar technology deployment, a significant energy need and weak infrastructure, South Africa as highlighted in a detailed EPIA report last year should be one of the best emerging markets. However, lack of financial support was said to be the key obstacle. That my now be changing with one example of funding being made available with the support of the European Investment Bank and Investec to the tune of €100 million for the promotion of clean energy generation and energy efficiency initiatives in South Africa.
Centrosolar will be expanding its market position with its new PV system, previously only available in Germany. Nicknamed the “Roof King”, Cenpac was developed in 2010 and Centrosolar claims it is the first standard solar system available on the market that can be installed on almost any roof.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s high-desert Adelanto Switching and Converter Station has started to take shape. Located on a 42-acre site, about 65 miles north of Los Angeles, construction on the project began in February this year, after the Board of Water and Power Commissioners granted final approval for the project in December 2010.
As part of its long-term cost reduction goals for its turnkey Micromorph thin film silicon ‘ThinFab’ production lines, Oerlikon Solar has teamed with gas suppliers Air Liquide and Linde to provide more than a 20% reduction in total cost of all gases and precursors. As a result, its ThinFab (120MWp) lines going into full production by end of 2012 can reduce module production costs by up to 5%. The total gas budget was said to be less than €8.50 per panel.
Semiconductor equipment supplier, Novellus Systems is developing what it describes as conformal film deposition (CFD) technology, an atomic layer deposition process to grow conformal metal oxide and metal nitride dipole layers in the PV cells. Collaboration is being undertaken with the University of South Florida (USF), to study the precise engineering of solar cell interfaces via a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.
