Solar PV Growth: which will win out? multicrystaline vs thin-film

[philb]

Solar PV Growth

1366 Technologies, a new MIT start-up aiming to make silicon solar cells competitive with coal, today announced it has secured $12.4 million in a first round of financing co-led by North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners.

MIT Professor, 1366 founder and CTO, Ely Sachs, noted that 1366 Technologies will be combining innovations in silicon cell architecture with manufacturing process improvements to bring multi-crystalline silicon solar cells to cost parity with coal-based electricity.

Sachs added, "The science is understood, the raw materials are abundant and the products work. All that is left to do is innovate in manufacturing and scale up volume production, and that's just what we intend to do." The company has just taken space in Lexington to build its pilot solar cell manufacturing facility.

1366 Technologies' roadmap includes a new cell architecture that uses innovative, low-cost fabrication methods to increase the efficiency of multi-crystalline solar cells. This architecture, developed at MIT, improves surface texture and metallization to enhance silicon solar cell efficiency by 25% (from 15 - 19%) while lowering costs. 1366 Technologies will partner with solar companies and government agencies, licensing its technology to accelerate the ongoing global transition to solar. In addition, the company plans to build industrial, 100 megawatt plants around the world.

"Once the pilot plant has proven itself, we'll work with governments and energy agencies worldwide to build a string of factories," said Carmichael Roberts, general partner at North Bridge Venture Partners who is joining 1366 Technologies board of directors as chairman.

Also joining the board is Bob Metcalfe, general partner at Polaris Venture Partners, who added, "By driving down the cost-per-watt of silicon solar cells, 1366 Technologies will drive continued development of the solar industry. Solar electricity will be central long term to meeting the world's accelerating needs for cheap and clean energy."

Professor Sachs previously invented the String ribbon� wafer technology being commercialized at Evergreen Solar, a leading developer of solar energy products. Both a founder and investor in 1366 Technologies, Sachs is taking a leave of absence from MIT to help build the company based on research developed at and licensed from MIT. Sachs is joined by 1366 Technologies co-founder and investor, Frank van Mierlo, who serves as the company's president. Harvard Business School professor Joseph Lassiter rounds out the board of directors, all of whom hold degrees from MIT.

About 1366 Technologies
1366 Technologies is making silicon solar cells competitive with coal. Our goal is to build on the success of multi-crystalline solar cells and manufacturing capacity to accelerate the transition to solar. Our products and technologies improve on the multi-crystalline solar cell by lowering manufacturing costs and increasing efficiency. For more information please visit: www.1366tech.com.
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March 27, 2008

Sharp Corporation Invests in Thin-Film Solar Plant
Sharp reveals its thin-film solar cell plant investment in Sakai, Japan and its expectations for rapid market growth as PV becomes a staple of future generation

Press Release March 27, 2008

Horizontal Deployment of Thin-Film Technology for TFT LCDs Annual Production Capacity on 1 GW Scale

Sharp Corporation has made a total capital investment of approximately 72 billion yen to build a thin-film solar cell plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture that is capable of boosting annual production up to a scale of 1 GW per year.

Production will begin by March 2010 with a 480 MW initial production capacity for solar cells. Combined with the 160 MW capacity of the Katsuragi Plant (Nara Prefecture), this will expand Sharp's global total production capacity for thin-film solar cells to 1 GW in April 2010.

The market for photovoltaic (PV) solar cells is expected to expand rapidly. And as the number of large-scale solar power generation systems around the world increases, it is said that solar power will become a staple of renewable energy in the future.

With the introduction of the new manufacturing facility in the Sakai Plant that utilises large-size glass substrates, jointly developed together with Tokyo Electron Limited, Sharp will dramatically improve production efficiency and be able to respond more efficiently to booming demand. The Sakai Plant will also serve as a model for thin-film solar cell plants to be developed around the world.

Main Features of the New Thin-Film Solar Cell Plant in Sakai

1. Manufacturing complex for the 21st century
Through horizontal deployment of TFT LCD thin-film technology, a cutting-edge LCD panel plant and a thin-film solar cell plant will be established next to each other, allowing infrastructure facilities and materials manufacturing plants, etc., to all be concentrated within the same manufacturing complex.

2. Enlarging glass substrate size
Production efficiency will be improved through the enlargement of the glass substrate size to 1,000 x 1,400 mm, which is approximately 2.7 times larger than the area of previous substrates (560 x 925 mm).


http://solar.sharpusa.com/solar/home/0,2462,,00.html

[DCKit]

1. Thin film requires much less raw material.

Though it's also less efficient / sq. foot/meter, there's room for further research and improvement. Thin film also has the advantage of working better under indirect lighting conditions - clouds, haze, indirect sun. Generally, less active material in each panel should = lower cost, but we're not seeing that yet.

Even at $4.00/watt and current electric prices at ~$0.11/Kwh, the return on investment isn't nearly as long as the warranty. If nothing else, a distributed, grid-tie, local, state or national residential system would reduce or negate the need for peak power generation.

[philb]

2. But may not reach the efficiency of the multi-crystaline; where space is a consideration

There may be a place for both
Most of Sharpe's capacity is still multi-crystaline, and the first group promise higher effeciencies for MC.
Concentrators used in conjunction with MC also reduce silicon need per unit output.

[NNadir]

3. Who cares?

The amount of energy consumed by websites musing about solar energy easily exceeds the amount of energy produced by solar energy.

If the world's servers had to run on solar energy, they would all have to shut down.

It's what it's been for 50 years, a fantasy.

[philb]

5. Solar is by far the fastest growing energy source, growing over 50% per year

Have you calculated where that puts solar 10 years from now if only same trend continues; it makes solar the largest fuel source.
Do you understand the power of exponential growth?
and the rate could increase from current rate as prices continue to come down. Solar will soon be a major power source if the current trends continue.

[tinrobot]

7. Obviously a really smart professor from MIT cares...

...and the wealthy venture capitalists who gave him millions of dollars to start a company, I'd imagine that they care, too.

[FredStembottom]

11. And they'll never get Movin' Pitchers to fly through the air!

Dag Nab It!

[jpak]

12. You mean all 12,300 MW of PV and 3000 MW of solar thermal electric capacity???

Fantasy = the charlatan "made up" NJ molten salt breeder reactor...

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. I suspect they will both win. This isn't VHS vs Betamax. As already

mentioned in this thread, there are applications that each one is best suited for. I say there's no reason not to use them both.

[FREEWILL56]

6. I agree with you that it isn't currently one or the other that must be.

Eventually, time will tell as both areas will go as far as they can with their technologies. There are even hybrid types like those by Sanyo so that is a 3rd option. My complaint about the thin films is that we still pay a premium price per watt for these more inefficient pvs and I lean crystaline for that reason.
As far as who cares from nnadir's question, I CARE and we certainly have been knowing of your prejuditial position on renewables for quite some time now and all that hot air from you could turn many a wind generator, but you prefer to waste your own energies going back and forth single-handedly beating a dead something as I'm not sure it to be a horse. Fear not as I'm not proposing renewables will replace all other sources, but you are denying the clean energy contributed by renewables and they do have there place like it or not. What is it you fear of renewables?

[gear_head]

8. is the solar-PV biz still using reject silicon from the semi industry?

does non-crystal solar-PV still crap out
after 6 months?

thanks for any recent info.

[bananas]

9. No. nt

[skids]

10. Si will always have market in concentrators/ space-constricted installs.

Thin film will be king of the areas where there's lots of roof.