Gregoire's CleanTech Blog

Des pistes pour résoudre le manque de silicium

TEL AVIV, Israel (UPI) -- In a world of silicon scarcity, many solar energy companies are trying to find ways to stretch, cut back on, or even cut out the traditional photovoltaic panel`s main ingredient.

Solar companies from around the world met in Dresden, Germany, this week at the 21st annual European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, where several announced innovations that would allow panel makers to increase their production capacity.

Midland, Mich.-based silicon maker Dow Corning unveiled PV 1101 -- a feedstock material that can be blended with solar-grade silicon to stretch the dwindling supply.

'It is expected that polysilicon consumption by the solar industry will exceed that of the semiconductor industry for the first time this year or next. So, Dow Corning`s PV 1101 will have a significant impact on the solar industry,' the company`s senior director of the semiconductor practice, Vincent Mayeda, wrote to United Press International in an e-mail.

'This is a major breakthrough, since PV 1101 is the first-ever industrial-scale silicon feedstock material derived from a metallurgical purification process specifically designed for the solar industry,' and not for semiconductors, Mayeda said.

The company said the polysilicon-PV 1101 blend is about as efficient as regular polysilicon-based photovoltaic cells, which convert sunlight into electricity with a chemical reaction.

Agreements with customers prevented Mayeda from commenting on the price of blended solar cells, except to say that they are 'cost effective, and the production of PV 1101 for the rest of this calendar year is spoken for by our customers.'

Vista, Calif.-based Ferro Electronic Material Systems, meanwhile, worked to cut back on the amount of silicon each solar cell needs to operate, and announced a new, ultra-thin silicon wafer at the Dresden conference.

Ferro uses specialized aluminum backing on its solar cells, which the company said improves the electrical performance of the cell and thereby enables reducing the amount of silicon per wafer.

'The current-generation `thin` wafers are 240 microns thick. Ferro`s new aluminum product permits further silicon reductions to less than 180 microns thick ... (and boasts) equivalent or better electrical performance on multi-crystalline wafers,' the company said in a statement.

A micron is one millionth of a meter; human hair ranges from about 40 microns to 120 microns thick, for comparison`s sake.

Other companies, including Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nanosolar, are working on creating solar panels that don`t use any silicon at all. A cocktail of copper, indium, gallium and diselenide -- CIGS for short -- can be used to create a solar 'ink' to print on a variety of surfaces.

Though this technology won`t be available on the market for a while, the promises are enticing: '(a) solar cell can simply be printed (or) solution-coated -- with unprecedented quality, yield, materials utilization, and amazing throughput,' Nanosolar said.

Silicon scarcity is one of the major reasons detractors say solar energy costs too much. Worldwide demand for solar energy stands at 5 gigawatts, but silicon constraints mean the market can only supply just under half that amount, according to 'The Gun Has Gone Off,' a recent survey of the solar energy industry by analyst Michael Rogol.

'For 2006 ... there are roughly 13,000 to 15,000 tons of high-grade silicon available,' Erik Thorsen, the president and chief executive officer of the Norwegian silicon supplier Renewable Energy Corporation, told UPI last week.

'Probably the demand (from solar companies) is twice the current supply,' he said, just as Rogol assessed in his report.

Thorsen added that there is no immediate way to ramp up high-grade silicon purification, because 'it takes two to three years to build a plant like that.'

And although everyone is working to increase silicon and silicon-substitute production, no one is worried that solar supply will someday exceed demand.

'From the reports of the previous five years, the solar market has grown 40 percent annually. We expect the solar industry will continue to grow,' Dow Corning`s Mayeda said.

Not only that, but '(silicon supply) could be a long-term problem because things like global warming and peak oil (prices) may force more PV use, and that would put silicon into a catch up mode even over the long-term,' J. Peter Lynch, a financial consultant and an expert on the renewable energy industry, told UPI.

HelioVolt : CIGS technology improvement

HelioVolt will extend its Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. HelioVolt’s continued research will include development of non-vacuum nanomaterial-based deposition processes for its proprietary FASST ™ manufacturing technology. FASST ™ is fastest and most efficient way to manufacture thin-film Copper Indium Gallium Selenide photovoltaics and the process can be used under vacuum or atmospheric conditions to print photovoltaic material directly onto construction materials such as glass, steel, roofing and polymers in 80 to 98 percent less time than conventional processes.

Source : Solar Energy Investing

Shanghai Electric Group Co. doubles its capacity

The Shanghai Electric Group Co. will double its production capacity for solar cells to 100 megawatts by the end of 2006. The group is making solar cells for a solar power system expected to be the world’s largest with an expected generating capacity of 60 megawatts, and will be located in Murcia, Spain.

The project will be constructed in three phases, with completion scheduled for 2008. The plant’s solar generation system will cover 350,000 square meters of land and will cost $250 million to build.

Source : RenewableAccess

Prism Solar & 4th Annual Energy Technology Venture Forum

Prism Solar Technologies, Inc., a start-up manufacturer of a patented holographic planar-concentrating photovoltaic module technology, has been selected to offer a presentation at the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship - 4th Annual Energy Technology Venture Forum in Houston, Texas on September 14.The forum is one of the largest energy venture forums in North America and gives emerging energy technology companies the opportunity to present their ventures to investors, venture capitalists and other industry representatives.

Source : Renewable Access

Solar City : solar packages for the home...

SolarCity, which is developing all-in solar packages for the home (including the solar system, net metering with the grid, and remote monitoring), has raised $10mm in financing led by Elon Musk. Musk will also be taking the Chairman role with the company. It's interesting that net metering is the stated goal, rather than storage, which is another take that other companies such as GridPoint are pursuing. Any other funders besides Musk were undisclosed.

Source : CleanTech Investing

Solar Conference - Compte-rendu

Un très intéressant compte-rendu de Niel Dikeman (CleanTech Blog) sur la conférence Solar Conference intervenue aux US la semaine dernière I attended the FRA Investing in Solar Conference earlier this week. While not one of the larger Cleantech conferences, it provided some interesting industry information. Some of the notable speakers and attendees included BP Solar, Kyocera Solar, Schott, Nth Power, Ngen, Daystar, Innovalight, Marathon Capital, and Bessemer Ventures, as well as numerous others. I came away from the conference with some observations on themes running through the general discussion of the speakers and attendees. A few of them are detailed below: Serious lament on lack of integration sophistication in the industry. One common trend running through the conference was a discussion of the split between large companies which control module manufacture, and the system integrators/distributors at the customer end actually are doing installations, and which tend to be small and undercapitalized.(Note: Kyocera Solar is the only major producer who is completely vertically integrated). Points & Sub-trends in this discussion: Ongoing debate on when or whether we would see consolidation in the integrator space as a solution to the lack of sophistication and size in the integrator sector. Serious concerns that real world data on solar installations at the system level was not readily available in large amounts (one venture backed company, Fat Spaniel, was presenting on the latest version of energy management/remote monitoring products which they are using to address this), and as a result, manufacturers focus on metrics like module level (not systems) efficiency, and price /Wp, NOT price/kwh – which is the metric of choice for electric power in every other industry. Similarly a general feeling that upfront rebate programs push the industry to focus on price/Wp though there was interest in the California program to shift part of its subsidies to $/kwh in 2007. In addition, there was a lot of discussion about the difficulty in maintaining margins in the integration business, which has become extremely cut throat, and has also suffered from lack of easily available module supply putting a dent in cashflows, as well as increases in copper and steel prices driving up costs. We at Jane Capital have been saying for some time that the future for integrators is either vertical or horizontal integration, or product development. And that integrators who do not innovate or aggregate will rapidly see their margins squeezed. Feeling that the US is rapidly losing its early leadership in solar This was a general theme running through the discussion. A few interesting assessments made by various participants: Only 1 of the top 10 PV companies are US firms. Key to changing this is increasing the government support to the same levels as Germany & Japan. The recent federal government 30% tax credits (through 2007) California’s solar rebate initiative, and New Jersey’s solar rebate initiative are the main drivers in the US. As a result, the US is really just a two market solar industry - California and New Jersey. We are at risk of China surpassing the US as well. Thin film technologies are a wild card with the potential to change this dynamic, but are still quite far off from having enough market traction to make a difference. Bottom line: if the US cleantech industry wants to be a player in the solar industry long term, it is going to have to pony up the cash. Thin Film vs. Crystalline Debate As usual, the thin film vs. crystalline silicon debate was ever present. A few common themes of this discussion: Module cost makes up less than 1/3rd of typical system prices. So a target of reducing module prices from the current c. $3.5/Wp to less than $1/Wp (still a ways off in any case) therefore only has the potential to bring down system prices perhaps 20%-25%. Scale in manufacturing size can additionally help, but scale in installation size, and more end-product standardization are needed to reduce the overhead and installation cost, which make up a significant part of cost. Already average installed system costs for large scale typically run $1-$1.5/Wp less than the $8-$12/Wp of a residential system. Current $/kwh are running from $0.50- $0.90/kwh today. Crystalline silicon technology does not have the potential to reduce installed costs really below the perhaps $1/Wp. Thin film does. In addition, the industry has become extremely reluctant to continue to remain at the mercy of prices /supply in the silicon industry (as prices have more than trebled), and every major player continues to look for new ways to either reduce their silicon content, reduce silicon processing costs (a key area to watch), or move develop a thin film bet. Most attendees/presenters felt the current silicon shortages would last less than 2-4 years. Interesting enough, as discussed above, the companies hurt most by this are the integrators, not the module producers, who are having trouble sourcing product, and have also been squeezed by higher copper and steel costs. However, given the level of crystalline silicon capacity adds and technology advances, no one seemed to expect thin film to represent more then 10% of total production within the next 5 years. One other critical area of interest to me was module longevity – roughly adding five years to module life by itself can reduce $/kwh by perhaps 10-20%. I find it very likely that we could see 40 year plus modules playing a key part in bringing down $/kwh. Crystalline silicon’s traditional longevity advantages here over thin film could become a key factor in the next few years keeping crystalline in the game a lot longer than thin film advocates might expect. A few other tidbits: To my disappointment there was no discussion of the Applied Material's tandem cell technology (a story Cleantech Blog helped break into the news in the San Francisco Chronicle several weeks ago). There was also less discussion of solar PV concentrators than I have seen at previous conferences. Though some discussion was percolating, this has become a VERY hot funding area for cleantech VCs for some reason, and I expected more talk about it. I still have trouble with the basic premise of solar PV concentrators, and don't think those deals will see the kind of success as the module producers have had, but that's another story. "Tunable silicon nano powder" There was an interesting presentation by Innovalight http://www.innovalight.com, on its silicon nanopowder based ink /printing process, touting a potential for <$0.40/Wp, and Backers have included Arch Ventures, Sevin Rosen, and APAX. > They use an ink made up of 2-10 nm silicon particles to “tune” the bandgap – ie, according to Innovalight, at that level of particle size, different particle size equates to a different part of the light spectrum. However, they did not quote numbers, and when pressed by numerous audience questions, came across as though they were still early in the lab on manufacturing techniques, and still far off on efficiencies, performance, and life. They stated a target of 2008 for initial pilot production. Chevron Energy Solutions solar entry: One of speakers, William Golove, announced that he was leaving Lawrence Berkeley Labs where he has been a long time solar applications performance expert, to join Chevron Energy Solutions to lead a renewable project development effort. I believe this will mark an expansion by Chevron in this area, so it was exciting to hear. Source : CleanTech Blog

Carmanah : des LED solaires

Encore une note intéressante de Tyler (Clean Break) interviewant Art Aylesworth, le patron de Carmanah sur ses LED 'solaires'

"I had a great chat the other day with Art Aylesworth, chief executive officer of Victoria-based Carmanah Technologies, about his proposed 5-year business plan for the company. Carmanah has established itself firmly in the aviation, marine, roadway and transit verticals, and over the coming years it will continue to drive deeper into those markets with the next-generation of its solar-powered LED lighting products.

But "the place where all the benefits of the company are crystalizing is general lighting," said Aylesworth. "We're getting our act together for general lighting and finalizing our design." We're talking everything from little lights for inground pools to bright city street lights powered by a combination of the sun and an energy storage pack. This would include lighting for pathways, parking lots, campuses, phone booths. "Everywhere you want light and it's not convenient to have power lines. That would probably be universally the best system we could make," he said.

The key to doing this, he added, is to have a solar engine with an optimized energy management system that can be adapted for a variety of applications. Aylesworth's plan is for Carmanah to be the first company in the world to have a plug-and-play solar engine that you can pretty much buy off the shelf and install yourself -- and you don't need to be an engineer to do it. There would be many different versions suiting different applications. "There's no future in custom installs," he said, "because you can't build a world business out of it."

Does that mean Carmanah-made solar-LED lights could make their way to the consumer market? "When we have it nailed down so it's bullet proof for discerning high-end customers that are industrial, then we'll see what would happen to the cost (if we mass produce)."

At that point, Carmanah would likely go to a company like General Electric and ask if they can make such a product for the consumer market using that company's brand. "GE is already on me to make solar light fixtures," said Aylesworth. "That tells me we're on the right track. The challenges now are just execution."

And if those challenges can be met, Carmanah could be positioned to more than quadruple its sales over the next five years."

Source : Clean Break

Somfy: renforce son activité tertiaire via 2 acquisitions.

Somfy: renforce son activité tertiaire via 2 acquisitions. (Cercle Finance) - Somfy reprend les activités de Variosys Sarl, avec qui il annonce avoir signé un accord. ' Variosys a développé une technologie évoluée de commande d'installations de protection solaire dans les grands bâtiments tertiaires, en particulier via le protocole internet IP ', explique Somfy, pour qui ce savoir faire est complémentaire de [son] offre, plus orientée vers le résidentiel et le petit tertiaire '. Suite à l'obtention des autorisations légales, Somfy confirme par ailleurs avoir procédé au rachat de certains actifs de la société Stehle GmbH, ' acteur reconnu et de qualité du marché des moteurs et automatismes pour la protection solaire, en particulier pour le secteur tertiaire '. Par ces deux accords, le groupe renforce son activité tertiaire et élargit son offre, ' en particulier vers l'Allemagne, l'Autriche et la Suisse, grâce à une gamme de produits adaptés à ces marchés '.

Solar Wafers Successfully Produced from Thin-Film Silicon

Encore une nouvelle technologie pour utiliser moins de silicium photovoltaïque. Schott Solar annonce avoir testé avec succès la technologie développée par Crystal Growing Systems GmbH, technologie permettant de produire des tubes fins de silicium photovoltaïque. Crystal Growing Systems GmbH est une filiale de PVA TePla AG, société allemande spécialisée dans la fourniture d'équipements de fabrication & traitements de matériaux industriels. (Franckfurt Stock Exchange TPEG)

Lien: RenewableEnergyAccess.com | Solar Wafers Successfully Produced from Thin-Film Silicon.

Photovoltaïque en Chine

Une série de très bons papiers sur le photovoltaïque en Chine. Où l'on apprend que ce mode de production d'énergie devient stratégique pour un pays comme la Chine dont les besoins en énergie explosent

Lien: Photovoltaic power should be part of energy strategy.