Photovoltaics International Papers

The photovoltaic market is currently experiencing a rapid decline in average selling price per module, resulting in a new era of challenges to reduce the investment and operational costs of manufacturing facilities. Subsequently, PV modules are rapidly gaining acceptance for industrial applications in the renewable energies sector. The PV industry will therefore need to progress toward high volume production of the established process technologies to meet future demand after the current inventory base has been installed. This paper addresses the potential impact of process technology, manufacturing and automation considerations, as well as the appropriate building concepts for large-scale crystalline silicon cell manufacturing. The other inherent advantages and considerations regarding fabs with a capacity approaching one gigawatt peak are also evaluated and discussed based on comparisons between two actual production facilities.

The global PV market is undergoing fundamental change. According to a new survey by EuPD Research, Germany is once again the most important PV sales market worldwide this year. Current market conditions are tightening, but within Germany there is still plenty of undiscovered potential. The transformation of the PV market from a supply-driven sellers’ market to a demand-driven buyers’ market is, however, an accelerated process rather than a slow development.

This paper presents a strategy for improving c-Si factory productivity and efficiency via software, focusing on software systems that improve yield and reduce cost. Specifically, the role of automation software systems and example areas where they can provide impact will be discussed. Key requirements of these software systems will then be identified that guarantee reusability, reconfigurability and extensibility, and thus high and continuing ROI. Case studies will then be presented illustrating how Advanced Process Control (APC) software has been successfully applied in the semiconductor and FPD industries to improve productivity and efficiency. The paper concludes with a roadmap for automation software implementation to support PV factory productivity and efficiency improvements.

Outside of the challenges of fabricating state-of-the-art photovoltaic devices, further care must be taken to package them such that they can withstand environmental conditions for an accepted lifetime of 20-plus years. Moisture ingress is a big adversary to hermetic packaging. The diffusion of water through barriers and edge seals can be minimized by careful choice of materials and package/barrier architecture. However, at present, there exist no solutions for extremely water-sensitive materials for flexible applications. Presented in the following is a review of the physics of permeation, the means of measuring permeation, current architectural strategies for semi-hermetic packages, and a brief evaluation of some common encapsulant materials.

Although simple in concept, a photovoltaic solar cell is a difficult feat of technology in execution. The challenge of balancing cell structure design, material optimization and module technology to achieve efficient, low-cost modules that perform in aggressive environments for up to a generation is huge. The modules’ structure has to support and protect a thin, fragile slice of semiconductor, while ensuring a stable environment free from contamination and moisture with little or no change in the incident light on the cell. Key to the modules’ performance are the first-level polymeric materials that contact the cell and conductor structures, hold the module together, and in many cases form the second-level protection of the cells from the environment. In this article we explore the industry dynamics in the supply of advanced materials for module assembly, the new technology directions, and how the market will develop over the next five years.

The current industry situation of more competitive business approaches, increased PV project sizes and investments but declining profit margins renders an accurate knowledge of PV performance a vital factor in remaining competitive. Comprehension of expected lifetime and energy yield of PV generators is essential. Therefore, accurate characterization of PV modules is quickly becoming a more and more significant issue. This article gives an overview of the characterization topics of PV modules in terms of safety, failure susceptibility, overall reliability, system performance and energy rating.

Solar enterprises will each be faced with the occasional surplus or lack of solar modules in their lifetimes. In these instances, it is useful to adjust these stock levels at short notice, thus creating a spot market. Spot markets serve the short-term trade of different products, where the seller is able to permanently or temporarily offset surplus, while buyers are able to access attractive offers on surplus stocks and supplement existing supply arrangements as a last resort.

Over the past few decades, the PV equipment manufacturing market has seen a significant change in technologies. Cell sizes are being increased, while cell thickness has decreased at an ever-increasing speed of technological innovation, from 4” 340µm cells in the 1990s to 6”+ 180µm being the current industry standard. Thin-film modules pose completely new challenges to module manufacturing technology with a strong integration of the manufacturing of the active layers into the module production flow. This articles analyses the pros and cons of an increased level of line integration from the viewpoint of an established PV module producer.

Explosive growth in sales of critical subsystems and components for use in photovoltaic manufacturing equipment provided one of the few bright spots in an otherwise depressed market during 2008. The outlook for sales into the PV industry in 2009 is for demand to be relatively flat, but strong underlying demand for PV cells should lead to a recovery in 2010 and a return to double-digit growth rates, as outlined in this paper.

Thin-film or crystalline photovoltaic modules? One of the consequences of the rapid introduction of new photovoltaic technologies is the buzz generated in the industry. Large-scale photovoltaic applications are especially sensitive to any question connected with cost optimization. Therefore, stakeholders involved in photovoltaic project development are questioning whether the time has arrived to shift module technologies to large-scale applications. A great variety of opinions are exposed every time this question arises. This paper’s aim is to uncover the key questions that should be taken into consideration in order to select the proper technology for large-scale photovoltaic applications and to provide the maximum amount of practical information for this decision.