PV-Tech, Tom Cheney
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has validated a new world record for terrestrial concentrator solar-cell efficiency using Spectrolab's latest multijunction photovoltaic devices. The cells from the Boeing subsidiary hit efficiencies of 41.6% during June tests at the Department of Energy lab in Golden, CO, topping the previous record of 41.1% held by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany.
"This latest record asserts Spectrolab's leadership position in high-efficiency multijunction solar cells and brings the industry one step closer to achieving affordable solar electricity," said David Lillington, president of Spectrolab. "This cell is an advanced version of our lattice-matched cell technology that will be incorporated quickly and successfully into our production line. This milestone underscores our emphasis on realizing the highest efficiency cells in high-volume production."
Produced in February 2008, the new cell is an advanced version of the lattice-matched triple-junction technology already produced in high volumes for space and terrestrial applications at Spectrolab's fab in Sylmar, CA, where the new technology was pioneered more than a decade ago. The new cell incorporates several improvements in wafer processing to reduce metal grid shadowing and series resistance, increasing the device's overall efficiency.
"Over the past decade, Spectrolab's efforts developing terrestrial solar cell efficiency have achieved an average improvement of approximately one percentage point per year, and we expect to continue that pace," added Lillington.
Spectrolab says that its cells power 60% of all satellites in orbit around the Earth as well as the solar arrays providing the International Space Station with electricity. The Boeing unit expects to reach an annual capacity of 300MW in 2010, following a series of investments to meet increasing terrestrial concentrating PV demand from SolFocus and other customers.
See the original article here
Friday, August 28, 2009
Suntech grabs 25% market share in California
PV-Tech, Mark Osborne
Although the realization has set-in that the expected U.S. solar market boom is increasingly becoming a 2010 affair, Suntech Power has already seen a significant increase in both sales and market share gains in the country, especially within California, which could be SunPower’s closest crystalline silicon competitor in the sunshine State. Suntech said it had notched-up approximately US$25 million in sales in California in the second quarter of 2009, close to 8% of sales in the quarter. The company claimed it had grabbed a 25% market share, up from only 8% in Q109, based on data supplied from the California Public Utilities Commission.
Although the realization has set-in that the expected U.S. solar market boom is increasingly becoming a 2010 affair, Suntech Power has already seen a significant increase in both sales and market share gains in the country, especially within California, which could be SunPower’s closest crystalline silicon competitor in the sunshine State. Suntech said it had notched-up approximately US$25 million in sales in California in the second quarter of 2009, close to 8% of sales in the quarter. The company claimed it had grabbed a 25% market share, up from only 8% in Q109, based on data supplied from the California Public Utilities Commission.
The all important pipeline of large-scale projects is also building strongly, according to Suntech's Chairman and CEO, Dr. Zhengrong Shi in a conference call to discuss second-quarter financial results;
“We still view the U.S. as one of the high-potential, global solar market particularly in 2010 and beyond. To help capture this demand, we have made significant investments in the U.S. We currently have over 50 people based there. To-date, we have bid on over 2GW of projects with Gemini Solar and other project developers, and we are on the shortlist for nearly 1GW of projects that requires multi-year delivery starting from 2010 and beyond.”
With a significant U.S. pipeline in the making, Suntech has had to focus on reducing shipping costs as well as logistics in the country to ensure shorter delivery times and improve overall customer satisfaction as the competitive landscape is becoming increasingly intense due to the massive over-capacity in PV module supply.
In the short-term all PV manufacturers will need to improve logistical aspects of their businesses and should the market take-off in 2010 and beyond, local manufacturing will become essential to retain and build market share.
Zhengrong Shi noted in the conference call that previously announced plans to build a module plant in the U.S. was progressing well, with site selection now down to just two locations with a decision due in a couple of months.
Main rival to Suntech in California is SunPower, which said in July that based on the California Public Utilities Commission data, it had increased its market share in the State to over 30%, noting that it had extended its share lead from the first quarter.
See the original article here
Chinese Government Stops Import of Scrap Polysilicon
PV-Tech, Tom Cheney
China has stopped accepting scrap polysilicon recycled to make solar wafers from sources outside the country for environmental reasons, according to a Reuters report.
The move could send ripples through the Chinese supply chain, affecting the scrap poly traders and the companies that sell to them--including major foreign suppliers-- in a potentially negative fashion, while for Chinese polysilicon firms, the ban may lead to opportunities to increase their revenues.
"China's Environmental Protection Ministry said it imposed the ban because the heavy chemicals that come in contact with scrap polysilicon when reused to make solar wafers and panels produce waste that could harm the environment," according to the news service.
"In a way, the ruling was designed to protect (China's) very young polysilicon industry," KK Chan, CEO of Nature Elements Capital, told Reuters. "The sector needs all the help it can get given a supply glut of the material."
Chinese poly producers such as GCL-Poly, Yingli Green Energy, ReneSola, and Tongwei could all benefit, although ReneSola CFO Charles Bai was quoted in the news report as saying that the move "should not have an impact, given there is sufficient supply of polysilicon in the market."
See the original article here
China has stopped accepting scrap polysilicon recycled to make solar wafers from sources outside the country for environmental reasons, according to a Reuters report.
The move could send ripples through the Chinese supply chain, affecting the scrap poly traders and the companies that sell to them--including major foreign suppliers-- in a potentially negative fashion, while for Chinese polysilicon firms, the ban may lead to opportunities to increase their revenues.
"China's Environmental Protection Ministry said it imposed the ban because the heavy chemicals that come in contact with scrap polysilicon when reused to make solar wafers and panels produce waste that could harm the environment," according to the news service.
"In a way, the ruling was designed to protect (China's) very young polysilicon industry," KK Chan, CEO of Nature Elements Capital, told Reuters. "The sector needs all the help it can get given a supply glut of the material."
Chinese poly producers such as GCL-Poly, Yingli Green Energy, ReneSola, and Tongwei could all benefit, although ReneSola CFO Charles Bai was quoted in the news report as saying that the move "should not have an impact, given there is sufficient supply of polysilicon in the market."
See the original article here
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Next Energy Innovators
Business Week, Pete Engardio and Adam Aston
Like many eco-conscious homeowners, Darin Budwig and his wife had long wanted to put solar panels on their roof in suburban Glendale, Calif. What stopped them was the high price. "I wanted to do the right thing for the environment," says Budwig, a registered nurse, "but I really had to ask whether it was worth taking on $30,000 in debt."
Enter SolarCity. After the Budwigs put $1,000 down, the three-year-old startup installed panels on their modest ranch home that meet almost all the family's electricity needs. SolarCity also took care of the many complexities that make going solar such a hassle. The company designed and purchased the system and lined up building permits, financing, and government tax breaks. In return, the Budwigs agreed to lease the system for 15 years at $73 a month—$95 a month less than they pay, on average, for conventional power. They expect to recoup their $1,000 investment in less than a year. Since 2006, SolarCity says, it has struck similar deals with 3,500 homeowners, businesses, and schools in California, Arizona, and Oregon. The goal, says CEO Lyndon Rive, is "to create a multibillion-dollar company in clean power."
Say "energy company" to most people, and they'll probably think of an oil giant such as ExxonMobil (XOM)or their local utility. But, in a burst of innovation that could rival the info-tech revolution, global demand for alternative energy is spawning a broad and bewildering array of tiny companies with big ambitions. Many are now hitting the market with products and services—in the thick of the worst U.S. recession in decades.
To help readers get a handle on this fast-changing scene, BusinessWeek teamed up with GreenBiz.com, a green business information service. We don't promise any will blossom into the next Google (GOOG) or Cisco Systems (CSCO). And because they are private, there are no public data on cash flow or profits. But innovators on the list have the brainpower, intellectual property, and ambition to play a role in the coming energy revolution. Since the focus here is strictly under-the-radar, we have excluded famous green startups such as battery maker A123 and electric-car ventures Tesla Motors and Better Place. But like those well-publicized players, all the ones on this list have lined up significant venture backing. "These are companies that, so far, have survived the gauntlet of fund-raising, R&D, and the economic downturn," explains Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com, a unit of Greener World Media.
Some of the outfits, such as Southwest Windpower, Solyndra, and Clean Current Power Systems, are chipping away at the technological obstacles that have made alternative energy systems—wind, solar, and hydro power—too costly. Others, such as SolarCity, are reinventing the business model behind alternative power. Still others, including SmartSynch, Verdiem, and Fat Spaniel Technologies, are harnessing the Internet to help utilities remotely manage the energy consumption of their customers' PCs, office air conditioners, and factory lights. In addition, we've identified a handful of companies selling gizmos and services that help slash power usage, from Bridgelux—which makes low-cost solid-state lighting—to GridPoint, whose smart grid software can track and control electrical devices in your home, from appliances to electric cars and solar panels.
For the founders of these startups, the usual path to personal wealth—an initial public offering—is blocked for now. But some will make their fortunes when large companies swallow the small. And although there is enormous risk, there also will be new ways for ordinary investors to profit in this sector when capital markets finally thaw out.
A BOOST FROM THE FEDS
Even in a terrible business climate, several factors are bolstering the fortunes of cleantech companies that were up and running before the financial crisis hit. The $787 billion federal stimulus bill makes billions in funding available for everything from lithium-ion car batteries to green construction. And new federal and state tax incentives make the price of solar and wind power more competitive with fossil fuels. If passed, the carbon emissions trading system approved by the House of Representatives would increase pressure on both businesses and households to use any means they can to conserve energy or switch to cleaner fuels. Then there's the price of oil. For all the volatility, it's bound to rise again when global growth resumes and emerging economies kick back into high gear, says GreenBiz's Makower. (Disclosure: Makower is an adviser to VantagePoint Venture Partners and has a small financial interest in the firm. VantagePoint has investments in five companies on the list: Bridgelux, BrightSource Energy, MiaSolé, Solazyme, and Tendril.)
As the roster of 25 startups shows, advanced green technologies are finally graduating from the lab and taking root commercially. AltaRock Energy of Sausalito, Calif., is building its first U.S. power plant in Northern California, tapping geothermal heat in "basement rock" deep in the ground to boil water in artificial reservoirs. And Coulomb Technologies in Campbell, Calif., is on track to install more than 1,000 curbside recharging stations for electric cars across the U.S. this year, up from just 100 last year.
MAKING IT SIMPLE
Several startups say they are close to price parity with carbon-based fuels. One common benchmark is to produce electricity at around 10 cents per kilowatt hour. That would still be about 40% pricier than power from coal plants, but it's on a par with the gas-fired plants utilities rely on during peak times. "If you can make power that can compete with a gas-fired plant, you can have a huge market," says Joseph Laia, CEO of Santa Clara's (Calif.) MiaSolé, which is marketing solar panels made from low-cost, flexible materials.
As some innovators grapple with technology challenges, others are focusing on making clean energy systems easier for ordinary people to use. "The real innovation now won't be in making a better panel that is 10% cheaper," says SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive, who co-founded the company with his brother Peter. "Widespread adoption will come if you can take away the complexity and hassle of installing solar."
SolarCity's chief asset is computer automation. Working with satellite images of customer rooftops and utility-rate data, it cuts the process of designing each installation and obtaining building permits and government rebates from months to days. The software also estimates the return on solar investments for each customer and remotely monitors their use of power. The company says it makes a profit on the installations. SolarCity's advantage: It gets a volume discount on the panels, and its software tools help streamline costs.
Another startup, BioFuelBox of San Jose, also is betting on an innovative business model. It collects waste from facilities such as meatpacking plants and sewage processors, converts it to biodiesel, and then sells the fuel. The company wasn't the first to figure out how to cook waste into useful stuff. But BioFuelBox realized the true value lay not in selling disposal systems to customers but in saving them money by taking their refuse for free. So it developed compact refineries that can be loaded onto flatbed trucks and sent to waste sites. Even if the government eliminates subsidies for biodiesel, the company says it can profitably sell its fuel for the same price truckers pay for oil-based diesel. Its first refinery is in Idaho, converting waste from potato processing plants. Given that the world produces 12 billion gallons a year of suitable waste that can be turned into diesel, CEO Steven Perricone hopes to "run a large network of microrefineries worldwide in three or five years."
Executives such as Perricone, a veteran of three previous Silicon Valley startups, know cynics have good reason to doubt bullish claims. In the past decade alone, investors have been burned by the hype over dot-coms and biotech. Many more will surely lose bets on green energy. But Perricone says he is being careful not to oversell the technology before the first commercial projects have been tested in the field. "Many of us remember the wild claims of the Internet," Perricone says. "There are terrific opportunities in this industry for those who execute, but before we go for more funding, we want the data to prove our technology works."
For now, many executives at the 25 startups say their chief worry is the broader economy. With venture funds tapped out, raising capital to develop products or simply keep operating can be tough. Bank financing to build power projects or ramp up production remains frozen, too. The sharp drop in oil prices from $147 per barrel last summer has also cooled enthusiasm for renewables. Numerous companies with promising technology already have gone dark for lack of funds. More will shut if the downturn persists.
The funding drought is especially frustrating for startups that struggled to overcome technical challenges. In 2007, Verdant Power installed prototype turbines to generate electricity from currents in New York's East River. But the river was more turbulent than Verdant expected, and the fiberglass turbine blades fractured. A new design with stronger blades made of an aluminum-magnesium alloy has generated power for the past year. Now Verdant is ready to install 30 more near U.N. headquarters. The recession "slowed us down," says Verdant President Trey Taylor. "We could do a lot more a lot faster if we had more money."
It is always risky to predict the fate of tiny startups in a fast-changing industry. That is true for all 25 companies on the BusinessWeek/GreenBiz list. But together they showcase both the potential breakthroughs and business models needed to make green energy viable.
With John Carey
To learn more about clean energy from GreenBiz.com, visit http://www.greenbiz.com/bw
LA Community Gets Solar & WiFi in One
Open Neighborhoods®, a neighborhood social networking service, today announced that it has selected SolarCity®, a national leader in solar power system design, financing, installation, monitoring and related services, for a new program designed to increase clean energy production and public broadband access in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles.
SolarCity is extending a price discount and affordable financing options on residential and commercial solar systems to Mar Vista residents and businesses participating in the GoSolar Mar Vista community program. In addition, SolarCity will work with Open Neighborhoods to provide free rooftop Wi-Fi antennas linking participants with public broadband access via the Open Mar Vista community Wi-Fi network.
GoSolar Mar Vista was introduced last summer with a goal of promoting awareness of available renewable energy incentives and establishing a goal of 100% clean energy in Mar Vista by 2018. The initiative was inspired by Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection and its Repower America campaign for 100% clean energy by 2018.
“With the year-round sunshine we receive -- and roughly half the cost of rooftop solar panels subsidized by state and federal incentives and tax rebates, it became clear to us that we can certainly reach 100% clean electricity by 2018 in Mar Vista,” said Open Neighborhoods co-founder James Brennan.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Solyndra’s Backlog Reaches $2 Billion
PV-Tech, Mark Osborne
Cylindrical CIGS-based thin-film PV specialist Solyndra has passed the US$2 billion in sales backlog with the signing of a new long-term sales agreement with German systems integrator Umwelt-Sonne-Energie GmbH, worth US$238 million through 2013. Unlike other thin-film producers, Solyndra is specifically targeting only rooftop installations, due to its unique solar system technology that is claimed to generate more electricity on an annual basis, compared to other technologies from typical low-slope commercial rooftops. In October 2008, Solyndra’s backlog stood at US$1.2 billion, and the company has since secured over US$800 million in long-term contracts.
Cylindrical CIGS-based thin-film PV specialist Solyndra has passed the US$2 billion in sales backlog with the signing of a new long-term sales agreement with German systems integrator Umwelt-Sonne-Energie GmbH, worth US$238 million through 2013. Unlike other thin-film producers, Solyndra is specifically targeting only rooftop installations, due to its unique solar system technology that is claimed to generate more electricity on an annual basis, compared to other technologies from typical low-slope commercial rooftops. In October 2008, Solyndra’s backlog stood at US$1.2 billion, and the company has since secured over US$800 million in long-term contracts.
“Solyndra’s revolutionary technology redefines performance for large roofs compared to conventional PV technologies in terms of installation cost, non-penetrating wind performance, rooftop loading, and energy production per roof,” commented Arnold Berens, Managing Director of Umwelt-Sonne-Energie.
"Solyndra´s innovative cylindrical module geometry and fast and easy mounting technology provide definitive proof that even today, dramatic breakthroughs in PV engineering are possible.” added Daniel Grünauer, Managing Director of USE.
Europe is a key market for Solyndra and in particular Germany. Umwelt-Sonne-Energie mainly operates in Germany as well as the Czech Republic, Belgium, Austria and Croatia.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
QuantaSol Unveils 28.3% Efficient Single-Junction Solar Cell
World record made public at UK's Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
Business Wire, Kingston-Upon-Thames, England, Jun 30, 2009
QuantaSol Ltd, a new independent designer and manufacturer of strain-balanced quantum-well solar cells, has developed what it believes to be the most efficient single junction solar cell ever manufactured. Developed in just two years, QuantaSol's single-junction device has been independently tested by Fraunhofer ISE as achieving 28.3% efficiency at greater than 500 suns.
QuantaSol was established in June 2007 as a spin-out of Imperial College London to commercialise the University's solar cell IP and offer devices to concentrator Photovoltaic (PV) systems developers. Imperial will be featuring a QuantaSol device as part of its presence at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition in London this week.
"Our technology is the industry's best kept secret. This is the first time that anyone has successfully combined high efficiency with ease of manufacture, historically a bug-bear of the solar cell industry," said Kevin Arthur, QuantaSol's CEO. "We're now gearing up to provide multi-junction cells of even higher efficiencies as early as Q1 2010."
QuantaSol's approach combines several nanostructures, of two or more different alloys, in order to obtain synthetic crystals that overcome the problems associated with current solar cell designs. It also greatly enhances the photovoltaic conversion efficiency.
The company, which has a development laboratory in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, completed a GBP 2m second funding round last week. It will now concentrate on cutting the cost of ownership of solar energy by moving to multi-junction devices.
Editor's notes:
QuantaSol is funded and backed by the Low Carbon Accelerator and Imperial Innovations, and its strain-balanced quantum-well solar cell (SB-QWSC) is believed to be the highest performing single-junction concentrator cell in the world with the potential to enhance multi-junction cells to record efficiencies very soon.
Solar cell manufacturers need to find a crystalline semiconductor material that exhibits the optimum light absorption range, is a good absorber of solar radiation (silicon, for instance, is weak), has essentially the same lattice spacing of commercially available substrates like Gallium Arsenide or Germanium, and can be deposited seamlessly on those substrates to form a unique artificial crystal with no defects or unwanted impurities, using commercially viable crystal-growth technologies. None of the known semiconductor compounds or alloys can meet all these conditions at the same time.
QuantaSol's approach combines several nanostructures of two or more different alloys in order to obtain synthetic crystals that overcome the problems associated with current solar cell designs and also enhances the photovoltaic conversion efficiency.
Business Wire, Kingston-Upon-Thames, England, Jun 30, 2009
QuantaSol Ltd, a new independent designer and manufacturer of strain-balanced quantum-well solar cells, has developed what it believes to be the most efficient single junction solar cell ever manufactured. Developed in just two years, QuantaSol's single-junction device has been independently tested by Fraunhofer ISE as achieving 28.3% efficiency at greater than 500 suns.
QuantaSol was established in June 2007 as a spin-out of Imperial College London to commercialise the University's solar cell IP and offer devices to concentrator Photovoltaic (PV) systems developers. Imperial will be featuring a QuantaSol device as part of its presence at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition in London this week.
"Our technology is the industry's best kept secret. This is the first time that anyone has successfully combined high efficiency with ease of manufacture, historically a bug-bear of the solar cell industry," said Kevin Arthur, QuantaSol's CEO. "We're now gearing up to provide multi-junction cells of even higher efficiencies as early as Q1 2010."
QuantaSol's approach combines several nanostructures, of two or more different alloys, in order to obtain synthetic crystals that overcome the problems associated with current solar cell designs. It also greatly enhances the photovoltaic conversion efficiency.
The company, which has a development laboratory in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, completed a GBP 2m second funding round last week. It will now concentrate on cutting the cost of ownership of solar energy by moving to multi-junction devices.
Editor's notes:
QuantaSol is funded and backed by the Low Carbon Accelerator and Imperial Innovations, and its strain-balanced quantum-well solar cell (SB-QWSC) is believed to be the highest performing single-junction concentrator cell in the world with the potential to enhance multi-junction cells to record efficiencies very soon.
Solar cell manufacturers need to find a crystalline semiconductor material that exhibits the optimum light absorption range, is a good absorber of solar radiation (silicon, for instance, is weak), has essentially the same lattice spacing of commercially available substrates like Gallium Arsenide or Germanium, and can be deposited seamlessly on those substrates to form a unique artificial crystal with no defects or unwanted impurities, using commercially viable crystal-growth technologies. None of the known semiconductor compounds or alloys can meet all these conditions at the same time.
QuantaSol's approach combines several nanostructures of two or more different alloys in order to obtain synthetic crystals that overcome the problems associated with current solar cell designs and also enhances the photovoltaic conversion efficiency.
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