Think Tank
Squeezing more out of modules
Many industries have, not surprisingly, attempted to talk themselves out of the global downturn, but very few have the statistics to back up their optimism. Thankfully, the PV industry is one of this select few. And it seems as if module production is leading the charge...
Last year, PV panel makers and their suppliers were feeling the recession's bite and wondering whether the industry could survive. But unexpectedly strong demand in Germany and the rest of Europe pulled solar manufacturers out of their decline. And according to research, global solar panel shipment in the second quarter of 2010 is up 92 per cent from a year ago.
Solar panel makers shipped 3.7 gigawatts of solar panels in the second quarter and generated $7.1 billion in rev
A glimpse into the future
Ever wondered what effect our efforts to limit global warming to two degrees will have on the European economy and labour market by 2050? A new study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) provides some illuminating answers.
Klaus Jacob, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
As demonstrated most recently by events in Copenhagen, international climate conferences are generally pretty tough affairs. But while politicians wrestle over reduction targets and percentage points, we tend to lose sight of the fact that a great deal of hard scientific research has gone into these figures. A veritable army of experts do the preliminary work for the negotiators, so that any potential agreements are not just words uttered in a vacuum.<
Mixed prospects for European PV industry
The recently-published European Photovoltaics Industry Association (EPIA) Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics from 2010 to 2014 is a key publication for the PV sector. Here PES publishes an exclusive extract ...
The EPIA Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics (PV) from 2010 to 2014 is based on an internal analysis of market data from industry members, national associations, government agencies and electric utilities. EPIA market figures are a credible and authoritative source of short-term market forecasts as well as long-term scenarios. With the massive growth of the market, data reliability is becoming a crucial issue: industry players, electric utilities and policy makers must count on reliable data to orientate their decisions, launch investments or pl
PV GOES GREENER – ‘TRIPLE GREEN'
‘Triple Green' is the new motto in photovoltaics: the drive to produce modules that generate clean energy, that are recycled and - what's more - ecologically produced. It's an effective way for the solar industry to further boost its image and sustainably cut costs. However, this perfect triad is difficult to implement because "green factories" require high initial investment. PES investigates...
This new way of thinking does not originate from China or the USA, but from Osterweddingen in Saxony-Anhalt; a little town near Magdeburg, where a company called Malibu manufactures modules from thin-film silicon and now cleans its process chambers with fluorine rather than the hazardous greenhouse gas nitrogen trifluoride (NF3). And while this does
Introducing Print-on-Print to the solar industry
A progressive process that has nevertheless been utilised in other industries for several years, Print-on-Print involves the printing of one conductor grid directly on top of a previously printed and dried grid. PES asked acknowledged pioneers DEK for an in-depth explanation of this revolutionary procedure.
A simple Internet search will reveal that the photovoltaics industry is working hard on higher aspect ratio frontside conductor grids as a route to increased solar cell efficiencies. This is because the silver energy-collecting conductors that are typically screen printed onto the frontside of a silicon-based solar cell actually block out sunlight, effectively stopping it from reaching the energy converting strata below. While it is important that these cond
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