NEWS I REVIEW


Calyxo increases total capacity of CdTe


CALYXO GMBH is investing in a second production line with a capacity of 60MW at Bitterfeld/Wolfen. Calyxo currently operates a 25 MWp production line with over 150 employees at the manufacturing plant and will ramp the total capacity at the end of 2012 to 85 MW.


The capital for the expansion will be provided by a bank loan and cash from the technology inventor Solar Fields, LLC, who took over ownership of Calyxo GmbH in February 2011 from their former partner Q-Cells SE. Solar Fields invented the technology while a resident at the University of Toledo Incubation Center.


“Based on recent good results in production with modules of 80 Wp and higher we decided to increase the capacity of our the low-cost atmospheric deposition process. We are confident, that Calyxo will reach costs clearly below 0,8 USD/Wp end of 2012 and that a CdTe production in the core of Europe will make sense for our customers”, said Dr. Florian Holzapfel, CEO.


The production line will produce the 2011-introduced CX3 product, which was especially designed for hot and humid environments and differentiates substantially from competing CdTe offerings, ensuring long-term stable energy output even under extreme conditions.


In these conditions, installation of the same size (MWp or KWp) with the Calyxo technology can provide up to 10% more energy than crystalline installations, driven by the superior temperature behaviour of Calyxo modules.


“Recently we have published data showing the excellent performance and stability of the Calyxo product under hot and humid conditions based on our unique laminate design” said Michael Bauer, Calyxo’s CTO.


These advances will lead to midterm production costs of less than 0.50 USD/Wp which may be the lowest in the world. Costs this low allow for an LCOE


Do solar and wind offset fossil fuel?


RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES do not offset fossil fuel use in the United States according to a new environmental book, Green Illusions by University of California - Berkeley visiting scholar Ozzie Zehner. According to the author, building more solar cells and wind turbines could accelerate fossil fuel use unless nations take other steps to avoid a rebound effect. Many energy researchers assume that building solar cells and wind farms will displace coal use and lower CO2 levels. Zehner explains that subsidizing renewable energy merely expands energy supplies, which exerts a downward pressure on prices.


“This brings us right back to where we started: high demand and insufficient supply,” says Zehner. “Historically, we’ve filled that added demand by building more coal-fired power plants, not fewer.”


“We create an energy boomerang,” Zehner remarked. “The harder we throw energy into the grid, the harder demand


socioeconomic innovations rather than technical ones. Green Illusions details five necessary prerequisites in order for renewable energy production to offset fossil fuel use:


1. Low per-capita energy consumption 2. An energy tax scheduled to increase over time


comes back to hit us on the head. More efficient solar cells, taller wind turbines, and advanced biofuels are all just ways of throwing harder.”


This counterintuitive boomerang effect is supported by a growing body of research. For instance, a recent paper in Nature Climate Change, by University of Oregon professor Richard York, analyzed 50 years of energy data and found no evidence that wind or solar energy production offsets fossil fuel use. In order to avoid the boomerang effect, Zehner argues that nations will have to institute


3. A binding long-term plan to improve building and equipment efficiency 4. Legislation that prioritizes walkable and bikeable neighbourhoods over car culture 5. Universal healthcare and a strong human rights record


Today some nations meet all of these prerequisites while others meet some.


“The US meets none,” remarks Zehner. “In fact, countries such as the USA, with dismal efficiency, sprawling suburbs, a growing population and high rates of consumption, renewable technologies do the most harm as they perpetuate energy- intensive modes of living.”


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forecast of less than 0.10 USD/KWh for electricity generated by Calyxo PV systems. Based on current market information, Calyxo is going to be the only meaningful CdTe producer in Europe from 2013.


Calyxo GmbH, founded in 2005, produces thin-film solar modules based on cadmium telluride (CdTe) technology. After the company split from Q-Cells in February of 2011, the former technology provider Solar Fields took over Calyxo GmbH and invested in a second production line with a capacity of approx. 60 MWp, which will commence production in 2012.


Calyxo currently manufactures an annual power generation capacity of 25 MWp at their production facilities Bitterfeld/Wolfen- Thalheim.


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