Solar ♦ news digest
UK funds III-V-on-silicon cell development
EPSRC awards £600,000 for new research for solar cells
Huiyun Liu and Alwyn Seeds from University College of London have been awarded £601,519 from the EPSRC to develop low-cost and high-efficiency III-V quantum-dot (QD) solar cells on silicon substrates.
The research will be in collaboration with Bristol University who will do the modelling and characterisation. The grant in total is worth around £1 million over 42 months.
To help combat climate change, the UK has a target to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
This is a huge task requiring changes to energy generation and supply. To limit the impact on scarce natural resources and the environment, these reductions need to be delivered by providing affordable green energy.
This research project will address this target by developing high-efficiency and low-cost solar cells by growing III-V compound semiconductor self-organised QD structures on cheap and plentiful silicon substrates.
The researchers aim to exploit the advantages of both QD technology and germanium-on-silicon substrates to develop both multi-junction solar cell and intermediate band solar cell design.
UCL will carry out the epitaxial material growth of III-V on germanium-on-silicon substrates by MBE at the department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, and the device fabrication in the London Centre for Nanotechnology.
Cree works with Delta Energy with solar SiC
Cree’s SiC MOSFET technology could significantly improve weight, cost and efficiency in PV inverters
Cree, and Delta Energy Systems say they have made a breakthrough in the photovoltaic (PV) inverter industry with the release of Delta’s new generation of solar inverters.
They utilise Cree’s SiC power MOSFETs. The use of SiC MOSFETs in the next-generation PV
inverters can enable significant new milestones in power density, efficiency and weight.
“The next-generation PV inverters from Delta are designed to set a new milestone of power density by utilising SiC MOSFETs,” comments Klaus Gremmelspacher, head of research and development for PV inverters at Delta Energy Systems. “The SiC MOSFETs from Cree were essential for us to realise our goals for new, high-power inverters that are lightweight and have industry-leading efficiency.”
Cree released the first SiC MOSFETs in 2011 and dramatically improved second-generation SiC MOSFETs in 2013.
Now, as a milestone product announcement, Delta Energy Systems, a subsidiary of Delta Electronics Group, one of the world’s largestproviders of power management solutions, has incorporated Cree SiC MOSFETs into its next-generation solar power inverter.
Utilising 1200V SiC MOSFET’s in an 11kW PV inverter, Delta has already been able to extend the DC input voltage range while maintaining and even increasing the maximum efficiency of its previous products.
The Delta 11kW booster, which employs Cree’s SiC MOSFET and now has 1kV DC input instead of 900V, is targeted for release in Q2 2013.
Solar Junction & IQE to further develop satellite III-V cells
After surpassing its own world record in October 2012 of nitride based modules of 44 percent efficiency, Solar Junction is teaming up with IQE to supply the European Space Agency
Silicon Valley-based Solar Junction, a developer of high-efficiency multi-junction solar energy cells for the concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) market, is in contract negotiation with IQE.
IQE is a global supplier of semiconductor wafers for the development of next-generation satellite solar cells for the European Space Agency.
“Solar Junction and IQE have been working closely for the past year as strategic manufacturing partners of the world’s most efficient multi-junction solar cells. Our dilute nitride technology and high-efficiency roadmap is a proven and sustainable pathway for present and future
June 2013
www.compoundsemiconductor.net 153
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