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TECHNOLOGYNEWS Solar Junction to hits new heights


SOLAR JUNCTION, a developer of high efficiency multi-junction cells for the concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) market, announced a leap forward in cell efficiency. Just one month after achieving 40.9 percent efficiency, the Company has now reached 41.4 percent on a production cell; both milestones have been validated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).


The significance of the advancement belies the speed at which the Company is hitting efficiency milestones for a standard commercial-ready production cell, moving the industry beyond champion cell gains.


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Concurrently, the Company is on a short list of finalists chosen for post-selection due diligence within the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program (LGP). The grant would support the commissioning of Solar Junction’s high- volume, 250-MW capacity manufacturing facility co-located with its headquarters in San Jose, California. Solar Junction


expects to begin shipping commercial cells this year.


“As the debate over PV versus CPV continues, we contend that with double the efficiency of traditional photovoltaics, the CPV sector is entering a high-growth period,” said Jim Weldon, CEO of Solar Junction. “These recent NREL results reflect our continued commitment to efficiency gains and validate the advantages of our A-SLAM technology for the CPV sector.”


Solar Junction’s cell, which incorporates the proprietary adjustable spectrum lattice-matched, A-SLAM technology, accelerates the multi-junction cell annual efficiency increase in a customer- integrable and commercial form factor.


The company’s cells deliver market- leading efficiency both in a 5.5 mm x 5.5 mm aperture area form factor, the dominant cell for CPV module manufacturers, as well as in a variety of


Report points to key factors


DESPITE constituting less than six percent of worldwide installations in 2010, the United States of America is well positioned to become a key focus for the global photovoltaic (PV) industry in the coming year. That is according to a whitepaper discussing the region’s potential and released by international solar power developer Enfinity.


Titled “The U.S. PV Market in 2011”, the report, produced in partnership with GTM Research, analyzes the key market drivers in the U.S. solar PV industry and predicts that 2011 will be a vital growth year for the country’s solar market.


“All eyes are on the U.S. PV market in 2011,” said Rafael Dobrzynski, Enfinity’s CEO in the Americas. “Being active in Europe as well as the Americas, we continually get questions, from both sides, about the U.S. market’s potential, demand ramp-up, and the reality of a national Feed-in-Tariff. Our white paper addresses these key issues as we delve into all these areas and provide valuable insights with hard numbers attached.”


Enfinity’s white paper identifies three factors that provide the United States with enormous, long-term potential for sustainable PV market growth. The United States is home to an excellent photovoltaic resource.


While the Southwest provides the highest insolation, or exposure to the sun’s rays, even northeastern states offer insolation that is, at a minimum, equal to or greater than the resources of Germany. There is


ample availability of land for PV development. The western states, in particular, have large tracts of open land that could support large PV installations.


Electricity demand in the United States is the highest in the world. Electricity consumption in the United States is roughly 7.2 times the total in Germany and nearly 15 times as much as Spain.


In 2010, U.S. PV installations more than doubled to an estimated 820 MW, up from 435 MW in 2009. While other markets such as Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic have faced drastic shifts, the United States has seen steady, if incremental, year-over-year growth.


Shayle Kann, managing director of solar at GTM Research, said, “It is difficult not to be bullish about the U.S. PV market. The economics have never made more sense. As PV system costs fall, electricity prices rise, and project finance returns to the table, the U.S. market is inching closer to reaching its potential as the centre of global PV demand.”


other larger and smaller sizes. The LGP post-selection due diligence comes a year after Solar Junction announced receiving a PV Incubator contract from the DOE. The efficiency gains of its solar cells relate to the work as part of the Incubator subcontract with NREL. Once the LGP post-selection due diligence process is complete, Solar Junction will ramp its in-house manufacturing capacity to meet the needs of CPV module manufacturers.


www.solar-pv-management.com Issue II 2011


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