Industry News
Energy. hence further lowering substantially the presented at the Intersolar 2009
Founded in 2007, Tigo Energy cost per watt peak. Conference in Munich. The jury selected
completed initial funding with a Series A By joining the silicon photovoltaics Oerlikon Solar’s KAI 1200 PECVD
round led by Matrix Partners and OVP, IIAP, researchers from SCHOTT Solar will system as “the best technical product
and successfully deployed 18 installations be able to closely collaborate with IMEC’s for thin film manufacturing.” Oerlikon
in the US, Europe and Japan. Israel Clean- research team to build up fundamental un- Solar’s KAI 1200 PECVD technology
tech Ventures was established in 2006. derstanding and develop robust solutions (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor
www.tigoenergy.com for next-generation silicon based solar cells. Deposition) deposits the silicon absorber
The program will bring together silicon layers that are at the heart of Oerlikon
echelon’s technology incorporated solar cell manufacturers, equipment and Solar’s Micromorph® thin film silicon PV
into industry leading solar inverters material suppliers and is based on a shar- technology. The deposition of these layers
Echelon Corporation’s LonWorks® ing of intellectual property, talent, risk and is one of the most critical steps in the
technology is being used in solar energy cost. www.imec.be, www.schottsolar.com production of thin film, and the quality
installations by SMA America, Inc., of this manufacturing step determines to
a subsidiary of Germany-based SMA Schott Solar streamlines North a large extent the overall efficiency and
Solar Technology AG, the world leader american production performance of thin film PV modules.
in solar inverter technology. Echelon’s Schott Solar intends to end production at In addition to producing high quality
i.LON® SmartServer, equipped with its Billerica, Massachusetts, facility effective absorber layers, the KAI 1200 is designed
communications drivers for SMA’s July 31st in an effort to streamline the to significantly improve the speed of
inverters, is used to monitor the health company’s global manufacturing footprint. manufacturing, reducing the process cycle
of and measure the electricity generated The Billerica site employs approximately time by over 30 percent. www.oerlikon.com
by the panels in a solar array for service, 180 full-time employees (plus 45 temporary
reporting, and verification purposes— workers) who manufacture 300-watt eFD® wins 2009 cell award
helping to maintain their efficient photovoltaic modules. The company has EFD, Inc, a subsidiary of Nordson
operation. SMA is using the i.LON filed a WARN notification, notifying Corporation has been awarded the 2009
SmartServer with their Sunny Central employees of the company’s intent to end International Solar Cell Award for the Best
250U and Sunny Tower inverters. operations at the location. Technical Product for Photovoltaic Module
www.echelon.com, www.SMA-America.com In May the company inaugurated a Assembly. The award was presented at the
$100 million state-of-the-art manufactur- 2009 InterSolar Exhibition in Munich,
premier power renewable energy ing site for products used to generate solar Germany, with over two thousand
forays into Italy electricity in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
registered industry participants and nine
Premier Power Renewable Energy, Inc., has Due to the limitations in the size and
expert industry judges voting. EFD’s PV
acquired Arco Energy, a privately held solar scale of the Billerica facility, Schott Solar
Cell Ribbon and Bus Bar Attachment
project developer, EPC and distributor determined further investment in the
Methodology is a point-to-point soldering
with more than 20 mega watts of permitted site was not a viable option. The annual
process that uses a proprietary lead-free
projects worth approximately $114 million capacity of the site is 15 megawatts. Schott
solder paste and flux mixture to attach
in potential revenue. The company Solar acquired sole ownership of the site in
string ribbon material to silver bus bars
anticipates Italian projects to begin 2005 after buying-out joint-venture partner
during module assembly. In addition
generating substantial revenue growth for RWE. www.schottsolar.com
to eliminating the need for pre-coating
Premier Power in the second half of this
of ribbon material with liquid flux, the
year. Based on Arco’s historical revenue, Nrel purchases aerosol Jet
additional metal content augments the
net income and gross margin performance, deposition system for development
solder joint. The method is compatible
as well as pending project economics, of high efficiency solar cells
with both manual and automated assembly
Premier Power expects the acquisition to Optomec announced that the company’s
operations. www.efd-inc.com
significantly improve overall operating Aerosol Jet deposition system has been
margins. www.premierpower.com selected to be part of the U.S. Department centroSolar shuts down module
of Energy’s National Renewable Energy manufacturing facility
SchoTT Solar joins IMec research Laboratory’s Atmospheric Processing Ubbink Solar Modules B.V., a 100%
program on silicon photovoltaics Platform in the Process Development
subsidiary of CentroSolar Group AG.
Photovoltaics manufacturer SCHOTT and Integration Lab (PDIL). The Aerosol
is closing down its solar module plant
Solar entered into a three-year research Jet system, which will be installed at
located in Doesburg (NL). Ubbink Solar
partnership with IMEC, a European NREL’s facility in Golden, Colorado, will
Modules B.V. will remain in existence as
independent nanoelectronics research be primarily used to develop deposition
a legal entity and will continue to meet all
center. SCHOTT Solar joins IMEC’s processes for metallization and coatings
its financial obligations. The closure was
newly launched silicon photovoltaics to reduce cost of production of crystalline
rendered unavoidable following the loss
industrial affiliation program (IIAP). silicon and thin film solar cells.
of Ecostream Switzerland GmbH as the
Within this multi-partner R&D program, www.optomec.com
principal customer for the solar modules
IMEC aims to explore and develop
manufactured there; this customer has
advanced process technologies to fuel the oerlikon Solar wins cell award 2009
been affected by a suspension of payment
steep market growth of silicon solar cells Oerlikon Solar, a supplier of thin film
order concerning its parent Econcern B.V.,
in a sustainable way. The program will silicon photovoltaic (PV) process and
based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The
concentrate on a sharp reduction in silicon production equipment, has been named
workforce of around 70 at the Dutch plant
use, whilst increasing cell efficiency and winner of the 2009 CELL AWARD,
will be offered redundancy
www.globalsolartechnology.com
Global Solar Technology – July/August 2009 – 35
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