Tag Archives: thin
Peel and Stick Solar
A new ‘transfer’ style application process allows thin, flexible solar panels to be applied to virtually any surface from business cards to roofs to windowpanes. For all their promise, solar cells have frustrated scientists in one crucial regard – most are rigid, reports Stanford University’s Glen Martin. They must be deployed in stiff and often [...]
DuPont and Everbright collaborate on largest thin film solar rooftop installation in China
DuPont, through its wholly owned subsidiary, DuPont Apollo Ltd, andChina Everbright International Ltd have jointly announced the completion of an on-grid 1.3 megawatt (MW) rooftop photovoltaic installation atthe DuPont Apollo production facility in Guangming New District,Shenzhen. The project is considered the largest single structure thinfilm photovoltaic rooftop installation in China to date. “DuPontApollo is pleased [...]
A Dummy’s Guide to Thin Film Solar Prices
You know and I know it: thin film PV modules have to be cheaper thancrystalline silicon, and it’s the efficiency, stupid. With regard toefficiency, thin-film module prices require a downwards adjustmentrelative to c-Si to overcome the efficiency-induced BOS costdifferential; the exact penalty depends on the BOS price (in dollars oreuros per square meter), as well [...]
Global Thin Film PV Market Projected to Jump to $19.5 Billion in 2015
Low cost and optimum efficiency of thin film PV cells is driving thegrowth of the thin film PV in overall photovoltaic market. The globalthin film photovoltaic market is likely to grow from $3,406 million in2009 to $19,422 million in 2015, at an estimated CAGR of 32.2 percentfrom 2010 to 2015. Amorphous silicon market is contributingmaximum [...]
Oerlikon Solar Researching Thin-Film PV With PEPPER Project
Oerlikon Solar, a supplier of thin-film silicon photovoltaic productionequipment, is leading a research project called PEPPER that has received a grant under the Framework Programme for Research of the EuropeanUnion. The aim of the project is to further enhance performanceand decrease costs of thin-film silicon modules within the next threeyears. Additionally, the project will assess [...]
MIT Researchers Create Flexible Paper-thin Solar Cells
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology haveunveiled the early results of a new research project sponsored byItalian oil company Eni. The project includes the development ofpaper-thin solar cells that can be used as window covers or as roofcoatings. The paper solar cell unveiled is able to generate enough current tolight a small LED display. [...]
Oerlikon Produces Thin Film Modules for Under $0.70 Cents/Watt
After First Solar broke the $1.00 a Watt price barrier last yearwith its non-silicon based thin film, which cost $0.76 cents a Watt,it’s now Swiss solar equipment manufacturing giant Oerlikon Solar creating waves. The company recently announced that they can enablesolar manufacturers to produce their amorphous silicon thin film modules at a cost under $0.70 [...]
Thin Film: The Future of Green Electronics
Electronics manufacturers have taken fairly impressive strides in increasing their energy efficiency in recent years. Some classes of components are already in the 80-to-90-percent efficiency range. So what will they do for an encore? Take out the bulk. The flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) display in the video below was one of the more [...]
Thin Film Solar: Walmart Chooses U.S. Companies for Rollout
If you haven’t looked at the solar sector in the past few months, here’s what you missed: As colleague Jeff Siegel and I said would happen, Chinese solar companieshave emerged as global leaders. They’ll supply about 50% of the world’ssolar energy products this year. For the most part, though,Chinese companies are focusing on traditional solar [...]
The Bankability of Thin Film Silicon
A curious thing happened in the solar market in 2010. Relativelyexpensive modules from well-established manufacturers sold well, whileless expensive modules from startup firms did not sell as well. Why diddevelopers pay more? Modules from the established firms had demonstrated excellent, predictable energy production over many years. In contrast,startups had not built this data set for [...]
Paper Thin Batteries Developed by Stanford Scientists
Researchers at the Stanford University have fabricated paper-thin flexible battery that can be used as a portable source ofpower for flexible displays and even roll-able cellphones. The batteries have been made by coating a regular sheet of paper with a thin film ofcarbon nanotubes and then a thin layer of lithium compound. These thin flexible [...]
Walmart Plans Additional Installations Using Thin-Film PV $WMT
Walmart says it will expand its renewable energy efforts primarily through theuse of thin-film solar technology at 20 to 30 sites in California andArizona. When complete, the projects are expected to supply up to 20% to 30% of the total energy needs for each location and produce upto 22.5 million kWh of energy per year. [...]