Tag Archives: amorphous
The Fate of Amorphous Silicon Solar
Greentech Media and GTM Research have led the packin questioning the viability of amorphous silicon in photovoltaicapplications — especially in chronicling the spectacular faceplant of Silicon Valley semiconductor giant, Applied Materials, their customers, and their a-Si photovoltaic efforts. We’ve been less dismissive concerning Oerlikon’s efforts in a-Si because in our many conversations with Chris O’Brien, [...]
Ron Kenedi of Sharp Solar Discusses Amorphous Silicon
Reporting from the Intersolar Solar show in SanFrancisco, California — I spoke with Ron Kenedi, Vice President of Sharp’s Solar Energy Solutions Group. Kenedi has been in the solarbusiness for a while. Prior to Sharp, he worked at Kyocera, and heremembers the bad old days when solar was "a pre-niche market — a gleam in [...]
Amorphous Silicon PV: Don’t Count It Out
The year is 2007.Generous subsidy programs in Germany and Spain are driving demand forPV through the roof, and crystalline silicon module vendors arestruggling to keep pace. Polysilicon is hard to find, and the littlethat is available is selling for well over $300/kg. Crystalline siliconmodules, at $4 per watt, aren’t cheap. Of the three available thin-filmoptions, [...]
Amorphous Silicon: Gaining Acceptance In Solar Market
Are amorphous silicon thin films gaining acceptance? That seems to be the case, albeit not at a fast clip, as severalamorphous silicon companies began to announce sales deals andinstallations that use their solar panels in recent months. Many ofthese companies began commercial production over the past year or so. In November, Signet Solar said it [...]
Update On Sharp’s Thin-Film Business in the U.S.
When Sharpexecutives convened at Solar Power International in San Diego lastOctober, they touted a recently completed $215 million factory for thecompany’s second-generation amorphous silicon thin films in Japan anddiscussed shipping those panels to the U.S. market starting in August 2009. So I checked in with Ron Kenedi, vice president of Sharp SolarEnergy Solutions Group, to [...]
Voltaix Gets $9M for Thin Film Chemicals
An investment firm headed bya co-founder of Norwegian solar firm REC has placed its first bet onsolar by investing in Voltaix. Gases can be sexy investments. Chemical company Voltaixhas raised $9 million from Novus Energy Partners and is gettingco-founder of Norwegian solar company REC on its board of directors. Voltaix, based in Branchburg, N.J., develops [...]
A Moore’s Law for Solar
Several people (myself included) have posited that alternative energy won’t likelyhave its own Moore’s Law, the phenomenon in the chip market that letsthings get cheaper, smaller and better over time. It looks like the critics might be wrong. Charlie Gay, the president of Applied Solar, the solar arm ofsemiconductor-equipment-maker Applied Materials, says solar panelmakers are [...]
Thin-Film Solar Cells on Flexible Steel Sheets
Normally conventional silicon solar panels, are bulky and rigid, but a startup in Toledo, Ohio, called Xunlight, has developed a way to make solar panels more flexible and larger. It has developed a roll-to-roll manufacturing technique that formsthin-film amorphous silicon solar cells on thin sheets of stainlesssteel. Each solar module is about one meter wide [...]