CPV Intelligence Brief 11 – 24 April 2012

By ksdicks on Apr 23, 2012

Evonik Cyro launches pre-fab CPV lens panels Companies mentioned: Evonik Cyro, Integrated Micro-Electronics, IMI Energy Solutions, Ayala, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Solar Junction, Department of Energy's SunShot Program, and SUNPATH award

 

CPV Intelligence Brief 11 – 24 April 2012
 
Evonik Cyro launches pre-fab CPV lens panels
 
Solar Pre-Fab lens panels, for concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) modules, could save customers tooling costs and manufacturing time, claims international solar lens makler, Evonik Cyro.
 
The company has recently launched a new product called ACRYLITE, which are solar pre-fab acrylic lens panels that when combined with a Secondary Optical Element (SOE) create a complete optical train package for assembly directly into Concentrated Photovoltaics (CPV) modules.
 
“This [process] allows customers to bypass purchasing the tooling device needed to create the product and avoid the required time-consuming installation process,” said the company in a press statement.
 
Peter Marks, new business development manager of Evonik’s Performance Polymers – Acrylic Polymers business line, said that the product will be sold in quantities as little as 10 panels to be used in prototypes.
 
Micro-Electronics to start mass produce CPV modules
 
Philippines conglomerate Ayala is investing more into the solar energy market through its subsidiary,  Micro-Electronics and will start the mass produce of solar panels this year after its renewable energy unit in Fremont, California, developed different types of solar modules last year.
 
IMI president Arthur Tan reported during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting on Friday that IMI Energy Solutions, a division of IMI USA, had provided solar panel co-development, prototyping and low-volume production to North American companies with varied technologies, namely CPV with co-generation of water heater and electricity, glass-on-glass solar panel and glass-on backsheet.
 
According to company statements and news reports IMI president Arthur Tan said that IMI would likely produce solar panels with a capacity of 10 megawatts in the first year of mass production, in line with its current capacity.
 
Mass production is expected to take place in East China’s Jiaxing, based in northern Zhejiang province.
Tan relayed in a stockholders’ meeting that the panels are to be sold into the Chinese and Australian markets with a high likelihood that India would also be a target sales market.
 
In 2010, IMI Energy Solutions was created in Fremont as a division of IMI USA to develop and manufacture solar panels and other related technologies.
 
Yokohama home to Japan’s largest CPV units
 
Sumitomo Electric Industries is claiming that its new megawatt-class electric power generation/storage system consists of the world’s largest redox flow battery and Japan's largest concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) units.
 
The Company is currently constructing a facility to test the system at the Yokohama Works (Sakae-ku Yokohama), and plans to start the demonstration in July 2012.
 
The compact system, incorporates compound semiconductor CPV concentrator panels at an elevated position. They are claimed to offer 7.5 times greater output power than previous generations and are also thinner and lighter than conventional modules.
 
The Company began testing its micro smart-grid system at the Osaka Works last June.
 
Solar Junction awarded DOE award
 
Solar Junction, a specialist in high efficiency multi-junction solar cells for the concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) market, was awarded a SUNPATH award from the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of a $21.5m programme to increase its CPV cell manufacturing capacity.
 
Through this program, Solar Junction is targeting a median cell efficiency of 42% on 150mm substrates. These factors will make a substantial impact on reducing CPV's $/W module costs by driving down the cost of the cell, while increasing the CPV module power output with increased cell efficiency.
 
SUNPATH, Scaling Up Nascent PV at Home, falls under the Department of Energy's SunShot Program.
This program aims to increase PV manufacturing in the U.S. through investments in technologies that are sustainable with competitive cost and high performance. SunShot investments are designed to help achieve $1/W by 2020 (see PV-Insider’s Executive Viewpoint with Mike Cliggett http://news.pv-insider.com/photovoltaics/mike-cliggett-us-department-ene...).
 
In February, the maker of high efficiency III-V multi-junction solar cells based on ASLAM materials, raised a $19.2m round of funding in addition to an exclusive manufacturing agreement with IQE.