The next generation of industrial silicon solar cells aims at efficiencies of 20% and above. To achieve this goal using ever-thinner silicon wafers, a highly effective surface passivation of the cell, front and rear, is required. In the past, finding a suitable dielectric layer providing a high-quality rear passivation has been a major challenge. Aluminium oxide (Al2O3) grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) has only recently turned out to be a nearly perfect candidate for such a dielectric. However, conventional ALD is limited to deposition rates well below 2nm/min, which is incompatible with industrial solar cell production. This paper assesses the passivation quality provided by three different industrially relevant techniques for the deposition of Al2O3 layers, namely high-rate spatial ALD, plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) and reactive sputtering.
Acuity Technology Management completed an independent evaluation on EnviroMission’s Australian Solar Tower technology, valuing it at AUDS$60,000,000. The valuation includes the intellectual property, development rights and overall commerciality of the technology.
Technic has appointed Wilson Xia as its Asia-Pacific technical director of photovoltaics. Xia’s new role will see him working on the research and development, applications engineering and distribution of the company’s TechniSol photovoltaic processing technologies.
The German module manufacturer, Sovello, has now received official accreditation to supply its modules in the U.K., Australia and Ireland as well as in Florida and California in the U.S. The certificates from the Australian Clear Energy Council (CEC), the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), the British BRE Global, the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), and Go Solar California were issued in Q4 2010.
CSIRO and Dyesol have completed the first stage of their joint project developing higher performance dyes for dye solar cells (DSC). The first six months of the programme has seen Dyesol build a research-scale assembly and testing facility at CSIRO’s Newcastle-based centre, in south-east Australia.
With an efficiency gain of nearly 1% in just six months, SoloPower has had certified a new, wider flexible CIGS module that is capable of producing up to 260Wp and has 12.1% aperture efficiency, as measured by NREL. The SFX3 module is claimed to be the most powerful flexible CIGS module currently in production. SoloPower says it has the first and only flexible CIGS products certified to both UL 1703 and IEC (61646 and 61730) standards.
Posting quarterly revenue that exceeded US$500 million for the first time was only one of Trina Solar’s highlights from releasing third quarter results.
Suntech and Infigen Energy have filed documents outlining the companies' intention to construct four solar energy farms in New South Wales, Australia. If provided with Government permission, the project is expected to cost AUD$780 million (US$792 million).
Dyesol has appointed Gavin Tulloch to its board of directors as director of technology. Tulloch, who was previously positioned as managing director for the global market, will assist the company as it prepares for full commercialization of its PV technology.
Concentrator photovoltaics developer SolFocus will partner with Vision Electro Mechanical to build the first commercial CPV power plant in Saudi Arabia. The initial project will be the initial project in a series of Saudi solar power stations planned by Vision (a subsidiary of Construction Projects Holding Co. [CPC]).
