Thin Film PV

Thin film market to rise 7% by 2015 Companies mentioned: SBI, First Solar, SoloPower, Department of Energy, Abound Solar, BELECTRIC, and Solar Frontier

Thin Film Intelligence Brief 22 June – 3 July 2012

Thin film market to rise 7% by 2015

An analysis of leading and emerging thin film companies by energy market research firm SBI estimates that thin film will have seen a compound annual growth rate of 7% between the years from 2010 to 2015.

In its first 4 years, the sector posted a much higher CAGR of 69%, but the report concludes that lower growth for the current period is a normal pattern of market consolidation once out of the emerging phase of a new industry.  The report reviews and analyzes the key players, both industry leaders and emerging companies in the field, suppliers of products, whole systems and turnkey production lines.

First Solar resolves code disagreements, Antelope goes ahead

First Solar has negotiated a resolution that ended two months of delay of its 230 MW thin film project Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1 after a dispute with local permitting officials over the absence of UL certification for module connectors. 

The connectors had International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) approval, which is accepted by the National Electric Safety Code (NESC) and the company was able to convince Los Angeles officials that the standard is equivalent and to resume installation on June 28.

First Solar and Public Works have now found agreement on code certifications to ensure that the connectors comply with all the applicable codes. “What a sweet day,” said First Solar Vice President Jim Woodruff as a Los Angeles County safety official helped him ceremonially position the first module, celebrating its resumption.

The 3.8 million module solar project uses First Solar’s thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) modules, and installation has been completed in as little as three months for previous installations.

SoloPower attarcts VC funding for flexible CIGS solar panels 

U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantee recipient SoloPower has attracted VC funding of $10.8m, according to an SEC filing. Its first round of VC investors include Hudson Clean Energy Partners, Crosslink Capital, Convexa, and Firsthand.

Last year the technology leader in low cost manufacturing received a DOE loan guarantee worth $197m to help find private financing in order to build a factory in Oregon to manufacture its CIGS-based flexible thin film. The facility will begin commercial production this year, using a roll-to-roll electrodeposition process to manufacture its modules.

Its flexible modules are optimized for ease of roll-on attachment to standing seam metal roofs, making installation easier and cheaper than crystalline silicon PV.  Racking adds about 25 cents a watt, and its flexible panels simply unfurl onto the standard metal roof.

Like other thin film manufacturers, it faces formidable competition on the price of traditional PV from Chinese companies, making the generally lower efficiency of thin film a liability.

Abound Solar joins thin film bankruptcies

Abound Solar hasn't found a buyer and is suspending operations and filing for bankruptcy. In 2010 it received a Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee to enable it to borrow up to $400m from investors, as part of $35 billion in loan guarantees from the DOE to help promote renewable energy development.

It used part of the guarantee to borrow $70m to build two thin-film factories, but ended up building only one plant before the polysilicon price drop. The company stopped production and focused on cost-cutting, but it wasn't enough.

"Aggressive pricing actions from Chinese solar panel companies have made it very difficult for an early stage startup company like Abound to scale in current market conditions," says the company.

Solar Frontier completes 28.8 MW CIGS project

Solar Frontier and BELECTRIC have connected what they claim to be the world’s largest CIS thin-film project in Bochow, Brandenburg, Germany, with 205,000 uniformly black finish Solar Frontier CIS thin-film modules. The project’s investor is CommerzReal and the financing is provided by HypoVereinsbank (HBV) /UniCredit.

Solar Frontier is the world's largest manufacturer of CIS thin-film modules, and BELECTRIC is the world’s leading solar system integrator of photovoltaic power plants in 2010 and 2011. The modules were produced at Solar Frontier’s gigawatt-scale Kunitomi plant in Miyazaki, Japan, the world’s largest CIS production plant.

Solar Frontier modules are valued for their high efficiency and excellent performance even under conditions that are considered to be less than optimal,such as low light, delivering more kilowatt hours and enhancing project economics.

Certifications for salt and ammonia resistance confirm the modules’ suitability for installation in coastal and agricultural areas. Certifications have been issued by TUV Rheinland Japan (in accordance with IEC), Underwriters Laboratories, and BRE Global (in accordance with Microgeneration Certification Scheme MCS).