industry news ♦ Solar
to the dominant CdTe panel maker, First Solar, who is increasingly in need of more materials sources. The growing use of tellurium also presents an opportunity for companies in the copper and lead refining industry, since tellurium is primarily a byproduct of refining these ores.
Despite the disappointments of the past, NanoMarkets sees product and manufacturing announcements over the past year as beginning to vindicate the CIGS story. Dow’s CIGS based BIPV product and TSMC’s entry into the CIGS area promises a better future for CIGS. As a result, absorber materials sold into this space are expected to reach around $610 million by 2016. Where NanoMarkets sees hope in the CIGS space is in electrodeposition which it says is well matched to improving the cost performance of CIGS in a “low demand” economy.
This report analyzes and quantifies the opportunities for materials in the TFPV space. In addition to providing eight-year forecasts of the core absorber materials, it also forecasts electrode, substrates and encapsulant markets. In addition, the report provides detailed profiles of the major firms influencing this space including: 5N Plus, Air Liquide, American Elements, Apollo Solar Energy, Applied Materials, Dow Corning, DuPont, Evonik, Indium Corporation, Linde, Oerlikon, Praxair, Redlen, Sputtering Materials, Ulvac, Umicore and Voltaix.
NanoMarkets tracks and analyzes emerging market opportunities in energy and electronics markets created by developments in advanced materials. The firm is a recognized leader in TFPV market research and industry analysis.
Spectrolab Starts Mass Production of “Highest Efficiency” Solar Cell
After setting a new world record for efficiency with a test cell that peaked at 41.6 % the firm has entered production with essentially the same technology. The firm plans to deliver the first of these 39.2 % efficiency cells in January.
Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab has started mass
production of its newest terrestrial solar cell, the C3MJ+. With an average conversion efficiency of 39.2 %, Boeing says its C3MJ+ will be the industry’s highest-efficiency cell.
The concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) cells -- used for renewable energy -- draw on Spectrolab’s 50- year history of manufacturing solar cells for space and terrestrial applications and are an improvement on the C3MJ cells currently in production, which convert 38.5 % of the sun’s rays into energy.
“These more efficient cells are drawing interest from a number of current and potential customers,” said Russ Jones, Spectrolab director of CPV Business Development. “Last year we set a new world record for efficiency with a test cell that peaked at 41.6 %. We now have entered production with essentially this same technology and plan to deliver the first of these 39.2 % efficiency cells in January.”
Spectrolab has introduced mass production of a new series of solar cells with increased energy- conversion efficiency each year since 2007. The current C3MJ series entered production in mid- 2009. More than 2 million C3MJ cells have been sold to customers around the world.
“Given the new cells’ close similarity to our existing production cells, we believe that our current C3MJ customers will be able to easily upgrade for more efficiency,” Jones added.
Spectrolab is a leading supplier of multi-junction photovoltaic solar cells, solar panels, searchlights and solar simulators and recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Spectrolab products have powered satellites since 1958 and have contributed to the on-orbit success of numerous commercial, national security, and civil space missions.
Spectrolab’s technological advancements have driven space solar cell efficiencies to more than 28 %. Today, Spectrolab claims its cells power 60 % of all satellites orbiting the Earth, as well as the International Space Station. Spectrolab has made significant investments to meet the increasing demand of the terrestrial concentrator photovoltaic industry and expects to achieve a 40 % average production efficiency for terrestrial solar cells in 2011.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, November/December 2010
www.compoundsemiconductor.net 103
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