Thin Film PV

Manz on verge of CIGS sales Companies mentioned: Manz, LG, Samsung Electronics, Foxconn Technology, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy,

Thin Film Intelligence Brief 6 - 20 June 2012

Other companies mentioned: Forschungszentrum Jülich, HZB's Institute for Silicon Photovoltaics,  National Institute for Materials Science SPring-8, BESSY II, PVcomB, First Solar, AGL, DuPont Apollo, Alternate Energy, Heliatek, and Masdar Institute of Science and Technology

Manz on verge of CIGS module sales

Manz is getting closer to winning its first batch of orders for its copper-indium-gallium- selenide modules, it has been reported by the company. “We’ll sell maybe even more than one line by the end of the year,” Manz said. “There is interest in China and in other regions.”

The company’s senior executives also see a big future for LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel manufacturers entering the thin film solar panel production market once demand for solar power goes sky high again, according to a Bloomberg report.

LCD panel manufacturers, including LG, Samsung Electronics, and Foxconn Technology, have the ability to produce thin film solar PV modules at about $0.30 per Watt or less by converting their glass-manufacturing production lines to produce thin-film modules, Manz AG CEO Dieter Manz told Bloomberg News. That would be a precipitous cost reduction of around 60%, given that market leader First Solar manufactures thin-film solar modules at less than $0.75 per Watt.

German student finds hidden source of cell performance improvement

German student and researcher, Dominic Gerlach, was awarded the Student Award at the recent 38th Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE) Photovoltaic Specialists Conference for his study of the electronic structure of the ZnO:Al/a-Si:B interface, according to Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy (HZB). 

Gerlach’s work claims to have detected the electronic structure of a poorly performing contact, laying the basis for a future knowledge-based optimization of the ZnO/Si contact. The student conducted the  experiments with the Helmholtz-University Young Investigator Group,  the Forschungszentrum Jülich HZB's Institute for Silicon Photovoltaic, the National Institute for Materials Science (Tsukuba, Japan; group of M. Sumiya), and the hard x-ray spectroscopy experts from SPring-8 (Hyogo, Japan; H. Yoshikawa) and BESSY II (M. Gorgoi).

According to HZB’s web site, Gerlach investigated the valence band alignment of the ZnO:Al/a-Si:B interface – a crucial contact in silicon p-i-n solar cells – by hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES).

Using a combination of different x-ray excitation energies and deliberate sample design he was able to draw a complete “depth-resolved” picture of the chemical and electronic interface structure. It was deduced that current transport  taking place via tunneling across the ZnO:Al/a-Si:B interface  is inhibited by a large tunnel barrier.

Gerlach presented that the tunnel barrier at the ZnO:Al/mc-Si:B interface is significantly smaller and is the likely source of the improvements in cell performance that occur when a microcrystalline p-type Si buffer is deposited between ZnO:Al TCO and a-Si:B absorber.

PVcomB produces 30cm x 30cm thin-film modules

PVcomB, The Berlin Competence Centre for Thin Film and Nanotechnology for Photovoltaics, has started operation of two thin film solar-module production tools with the help of their German supplier, Leybold Optics. PVcomB is a joint initiative with the Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy (HZB) and the Technical University of Berlin. 

According to industry news reports, the inline sputter systems from Leybold Optics, has aided PVcomB in closing the final gaps in its two research lines for thin-film silicon and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar modules, and has now started full operation of modules measuring 30cm x 30cm.

While R&D in general across the PV sector has dropped considerably off the priorities lists of many solar module makers, Dr Rutger Schlatmann, who heads up the JV reiterates that thin film technology must be implemented on an industrial level as quickly as possible. The researchers’ biggest objective is to solve production problems, according to Schlatmann statements in reports.

First Solar and AGL build 159 MW plant

Australian electricity and gas retailer AGL Energy and First Solar will be constructing a 159-megawatt solar plant in New South Wales.

The $445m thin-film solar project will be constructed across two sites in Broken Hill (106 MW) and Nyngan (53 MW).

AGL will have a majority stake in the project vehicle with First Solar responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of the plants on behalf of AGL for the first five years of the plant’s commercial operation.

Construction will start in 2014 with commercial operations set to start in 2015.

The projects will provide approximately 350 gigawatt-hours of energy per year, according to local news reports.

The electricity produced will be sold under a power purchase agreement to AGL Hydro Partnership, a wholly owned subsidiary of AGL.

According to an EcoSeed report, the project is the recipient of a 129.7m Australian dollar grant from the Australian government through its Solar Flagships programme.

Heliatek to launch into BIPV market

Heliatek, a German company specializing in organic photovoltaics, has reported that its transparent solar films could be used to be integrated between the glass sheets of double glazed windows. These windows would look like tinted glass as the unique vapor deposition technology for the solar films allows for a homogeneous coating of the solar layer without any distracting patterns or irregularities.

Heliatek is currently working with glass and other building material manufacturers to include its solar film technology in their products.

“Our solar films offer unique and compelling key benefits for all kinds of building integration applications. Thus, our business model is to be the leading supplier of customized solar films to the building and construction material industry. They will integrate our solar films as energy harvesting components into their products,” said Thibaud Le Séguillon, CEO of Heliatek.

Measurements by SGS, an accredited and independent testing facility, have confirmed that Heliatek’s lab cells still offer an efficiency of 7 % at a light transmission level of 23.5 %. Currently, the company can produce a transparency level of up to 40 % in its laboratories in Dresden, Germany, and sees the possibility to increase this to 50 % when the transparent solar films will be supplied to the building industry with the launch of the next production line in 2014.

DuPont Apollo bags two Thai contracts

DuPont Apollo has signed two new contracts to supply Thailand with a total of 22.75 megawatts (MW) of power generated by silicon-based thin film photovoltaic (PV) solar modules.

The PV modules will be used for utility solar projects located in Chaiyaphum Province and Saraburi Province owned respectively by Smart Green Energy and Infinite Green, it has been reported.

Companies, such as DuPont Apollo will be keen to get a foothold in Thailand’s 10-Year Alternative Energy Development Plan (REDP), which aims to develop an energy mix that includes renewable energy of 25 percent of overall energy consumption.

Alternate Energy brings CIGS to home market

Alternate Energy, a well-established family-owned solar energy company in Hawaii, is the first company in the nation to offer CIGS thin film panels. The all black panels only recently became available for residential installations in the US, according to local news reports.

Alternate Energy’s CIGS modules, which come from Miyazaki in Japan, are being marketed to the Hawaiian market as panels that can offer a higher performance ratio than crystalline silicon,  according to local news reports.

In a local newspaper interview Darren Furumoto, director of operations for Alternate Energy’s CIS division, said on his return from a trip to Japan: “The new CIS panels are less sensitive to the inefficiencies that can affect crystalline modules. They offer a higher tolerance to cloud cover and heat, and more consistent power production curve.”

Masdar invests in two solar cell research projects

Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, an independent, research-driven graduate-level university focused on advanced energy and sustainable technologies, is launching two projects that will enable applicants to help develop solar cell applications as part of the six-week summer internship programme.

One of the projects will focus on designing specific optical filters for applications of concentrated PV, while the other will assess whether Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs) would be suitable for use in the UAE, given the unique atmospheric conditions.