news digest ♦ Solar
“What matters most to our customers is reliable energy output achieved through proven technology,” says Thomas Kuster, First Solar Senior Vice President of Product Management. “The AC Power Block and the Series 4 module are designed to deliver on those expectations. As solar energy secures its place in the global energy mix, these offerings demonstrate First Solar’s ability to deliver solutions that address our customers’ specific needs. We are confident that our commitment to innovation and continuous improvement position First Solar as a leading provider of comprehensive solar energy solutions.”
“The underlying principle behind these new offerings and our existing power systems portfolio is an unwavering focus on a goal that we share with our customers in Europe and around the world: reliable generation of solar energy that is competitive within the framework of the region’s energy generation portfolio,” Christopher Burghardt, Vice President for Europe at First Solar, explains. “Showcasing our industry-leading range of solutions at the region’s premier solar energy exhibition underscores the market’s importance to our growth strategy.”
First Solar will also spotlight its Modules Plus System at Intersolar. This offering features fixed-tilt and single-axis tracker designs that are optimised for installation ease, project value, and operational reliability with First Solar’s advanced thin film PV modules.
Laser mimics sunlight to assess cell efficiency
In a new tool, a white light laser can be focused down to a small beam spot to analyse GaAs, CIGS and silicon based solar cells
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a laser-based instrument that generates artificial sunlight to help test solar cell properties and find ways to boost their efficiency.
NIST says the system simulates sunlight well across a broad spectrum of visible to infrared light. More flexible than conventional solar simulators such as xenon arc-lamps or LEDs, the laser instrument can be focused down to a small beam spot - with resolution approaching the theoretical limit- and shaped to match any desired spectral profile.
NIST engineer Tasshi Dennis with NIST’s solar simulator based on a white light laser. The instrument simulates sunlight to help measure the properties of solar cell materials. The instrument’s beam is illuminating a GaAs solar cell (yellow diamond) in the lower left corner of the photo (Credit: J. Burrus/NIST)
The new simulator is based on a white light laser that uses optical-fibre amplifier technology to boost the power and a photonic crystal fibre to broaden the spectrum. NIST researchers used the simulator to measure the efficiency of thin-film solar cells made of GaAs, CIGS, crystalline and amorphous silicon and the results agreed with independent measurements.
“We can focus the light down to a spot less than 2 micrometres in diameter, despite the wide spectral content. You can’t do this with sunlight,” NIST researcher Tasshi Dennis says. “We then used this focused spot to scan across solar cell materials while monitoring the current the light generated. This allowed us to create spatial maps (images) of the response of a solar cell at the micrometre level.”
The NIST scientists believe the new instrument may help researchers to understand solar cells’ optical and electrical characteristics, including defects and the impact of unusual designs. In particular, the new simulator’s capability to make rapid, accurate spectrum adjustments will help characterise the most efficient solar cells, which use multi-junction materials in which each junction is tuned to a different part of the spectrum.
The instrument is designed to probe small research samples, individual concentrator solar cells and microstructures, not to determine the efficiencies of large solar cell panels and modules. NIST researchers have been working to make the new simulator programmable and portable for use outside NIST.
First Solar sells 250MW
Nevada project The CdTe vertically integrated modules offer tracker technology, EPC services, modules and a balance of system solution
First Solar has completed the sale of the 250-megawatt (MW) AC Silver State South Solar Project to a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Silver State South is located on approximately 3,000 acres of federally managed land in Clark County, Nevada. The project is adjacent to the 50MWAC Silver State North project, which was developed and built by First Solar and commissioned in 2012.
First Solar developed and designed the Silver State South project, and will provide Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services to NextEra. All the power from Silver State South will be sold to Southern California Edison under a long-term power purchase agreement.
“Silver State South demonstrates the deep value First Solar 92
www.compoundsemiconductor.net June 2014
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