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Solar panel contract for space
EMCORE Corporation has announced The solar panels to be delivered to Dutch
today that the company has been awarded a Space will use EMCORE's ZTJ solar cells.
contract by Dutch Space of Leiden, The With a sunlight-to-electricity conversion
Netherlands to manufacture, test, and efficiency of 30%, the ZTJ solar cell is the
deliver the solar panels to power the highest performance space qualified multi-
Cygnus spacecraft being developed by junction solar cell available in the world
Orbital Sciences Corporation for NASA's today.
Commercial Resupply Service (CRS)
project. With all options exercised the total Production of the solar panels will take
value of the contract would be in excess of place at EMCORE's state-of-the-art
$15 million. manufacturing facilities located in significant award for EMCORE as this
Albuquerque, New Mexico. program will be powered by the most highly
Under the CRS project, Orbital will carry Bart Reijnen, CEO of Dutch Space: "From efficient space solar cells available today.
out eight pressurized space cargo missions our joint experience on NASA's Dawn
beginning in early 2011 and running through interplanetary project, which included Orbital We are proud to once again be part of an
2015 to provide a U.S.-produced and- as the prime contractor, we know that Orbital-led mission with Dutch Space as the
operated automated cargo delivery service collaborating with EMCORE results in first- solar array provider. This is a reformation of
to the International Space Station (ISS). An class technology tailored to specific needs. the team that successfully collaborated on
initial demonstration flight will be carried out Their contribution to the solar arrays for the NASA's DAWN mission, which is currently
as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Cygnus spacecrafts will provide the highest powering the spacecraft on its voyage to
Transportation Services (COTS) project, available efficiency, optimized for the mission." the Asteroid Belt. The CRS award builds
which provided NASA incentives to the on the successful heritage of DAWN and
developing commercial launch services Christopher Larocca, Chief Operating paves the way for more future partnerships
industry. Officer of EMCORE stated, "This is a with Dutch Space."
Thin-Film share of solar panel market to double
Thin-film solar cells are rapidly taking market thin-film is at a disadvantage when junction, where one diode is used. Recent
share away from the established crystalline installation space is limited, such as on a developments use multiple junctions
technology, with their portion of Photovoltaic residential rooftop. A thin-film installation stacked on top of one another—also called
(PV) wattage more than doubling by 2013, can take 15 percent to 40 percent more tandem and triple junction—so that more
according to iSuppli Corp. Thin-film will space to achieve the same total system parts of the spectrum can be absorbed
grow to account for 31 percent of the global wattage output as crystalline. This tends to using different combinations, or junctions, of
solar panel market in terms of watts by limit its appeal in certain applications. material.
2013, up from 14 percent in 2008.
The average thin-film solar panel price is Most of these technologies rely on variants
“The market viability of thin-film has been expected to decline to $1.40 in 2010, down of Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), or
solidly established by First Solar Inc. as it 17.6 percent from $1.70 in 2009. Average screen printing, to deposit the layers of
rockets to become the world’s top solar prices for crystalline panels are expected to materials on various substrates, i.e., glass
panel maker this year, with more than a drop to $2.00 in 2010, down 20 percent and various plastics. Some recent
gigawatt of production,” said Greg from $2.50 this year. technologies employ variants of ink-jet
Sheppard, chief research officer for iSuppli. printing to more quickly deposit the
Through 2012, crystalline prices will materials. Another accelerator of thin-film
Most solar panels are made of crystalline continue to close the thin-film pricing gap to technology is the rising availability of turn-
wafers with 180 to 230 microns of some degree because its purveyors have key production lines from companies such
polysilicon. In contrast, thin-film panels are deeper pockets and keep pouring on capital as Applied Materials, Oerlikon, and
made by depositing multiple layers of other spending, technology R&D developments Centrotherm.
materials a few micrometers in thickness on and manufacturing refinements, iSuppli
a substrate. expects. In spite of a greater than 50% drop in the
contract price of polysilicon since last year,
The main tradeoff between the two Many types of thin-film PV technologies are the market outlook for thin-film solar
technologies is efficiency versus cost per available. Their efficiencies in converting modules remains promising. iSuppli projects
watt of electricity generation. Thin-film light to electricity mostly hover at less than that thin-film based PV solar modules will
panels are less efficient at converting 10 percent, although some have lab results grow to account for more than 30% of the
sunlight to electricity, but they also cost pushing into the mid-teens. Some of these total module market by 2013, up from 14%
significantly less to make. At the same time technologies are what is known as single- in 2008.
14 www.compoundsemiconductor.net November / December 2009
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