news digest ♦ Solar
Manz CIGS solar power trumps fossil fuels
CIGS solar power from Manz is now at a similar cost level to electricity from fossil fuels and much cheaper than offshore wind. The firm has also set a world record of 14.6 percent total panel efficiency for thin films on a mass production line
As a base material for diodes targeting solar-power conversion applications, SiC is superior to ordinary silicon bipolar technology. SiC diodes can switch rapidly between conducting and non-conducting states without suffering the reverse recovery current that occurs when switching bipolar diodes.
Eliminating this unwanted effect saves up to 70 percent of energy normally lost, maintains high efficiency over a wide temperature range, and enhances freedom for designers to optimise the system operating frequency.
ST’s trials using 1200V silicon carbide diodes have shown a 2 percent increase in overall inverter yield, even when operating at high loads and high frequencies. Over the intended lifetime of inverters used in installations such as residential photovoltaic systems and high-power solar farms, this improvement can effectively save many Megawatt- hours of valuable energy.
At SPI 2012, ST will also reveal progress in its SiC MOSFET program. These will be among the world’s first commercial SiC MOSFETs; an advanced class of devices predicted to offer an alternative to high-voltage silicon IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) in solar inverters, delivering a number of advantages. In addition to saving at least 50 percent of IGBT energy losses, SiC MOSFETs require no special drive circuitry and can operate at higher frequencies. This enables designers to miniaturise other components in the power supply thereby reducing cost and size as well as enhancing energy efficiency.
Further applications for SiC MOSFETs and diodes include bulk power supplies used in energy-hungry computer rooms and data centres, and motor-drive electronics in electric vehicles.
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www.compoundsemiconductor.net October 2012
The German firm Manz has achieved what it says is a technological breakthrough:.
The company’s integrated production line for CIGS thin-film solar panels, the Manz CIGSfab, can be used to manufacture solar panels that in the future will supply power costing between four euro cents (Spain) and eight euro cents (Germany) per kilowatt hour, depending on the location.
This means the cost of solar power is on a similar level to electricity from fossil fuels and much cheaper than electricity from offshore wind parks.
Taking onto account taxes and duties as well as the rapidly increasing costs of fossil fuels, the green electricity clearly trumps the competition. According to Dieter Manz, founder and CEO of Manz AG, “The new technology has the potential to revolutionise the solar industry.”
The CIGS solar panel from Manz was manufactured on a mass production line and has a total panel efficiency of 14.6 percent, a world record in thin-film technology.
Manz achieves breakthrough in the thin-film solar sector with panel that sets the world record for efficiency
Manz believes it not only cuts the cost of solar power through a significant increase in panel
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