(Japanese Company) Ulvac to Produce Turn-Key Thin Film Solar Production Equipment

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.compoundsemi.com/documents/articles/news/10375.html

Ulvac to Produce Turn-Key Thin Film Solar Production Equipment

CompoundSemi News Staff

June 25, 2008...Ulvac of Japan, a tech firm formerly know for its vacuum technology, announced plans to start providing turnkey thin-film (non-silicon) solar cell manufacturing equipment, according to a Nikkei Net http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNW/Nni20080623TC2ULVAC.htm">article. The company is apparently betting heavily on the demand it expects, before it has many customers lined up, the article indicated. The company reportedly spent about 3 billion yen (about $30 million) on a thin film solar cell demonstration production line.

China Solar Power has ordered the equipment to produce 50MW of amorphous thin-film solar cells per year from Ulvac. China Solar Power revealed in the article that it hopes to have its first solar cell production factory up and running in the spring of 2009. The article noted that startup companies hoping to specialize in solar power are looking to turn-key production solutions to start immediately. So far, 50MW of amorphous thin film solar capacity costs about 10 billion yen (about $100 million), the article estimated, but 50MW of polycrystal silicon solar cell production capacity is estimated to cost about 6-7 billion yen (about $60 million to $70 million). Ulvac and companies like it hope to reduce costs for its solar production equipment. Ulvac has made about $2.34 billion (251 billion yen) in estimated revenue for the fiscal year ending in June 2008. Ulvac predicts that in four years it will get about 100 billion yen from turn-key solar production equipment.

[cloudythescribbler]

1. where's the fellow who's always so passionately trashing solar voltaic ESPECIALLY thin film tech...

now? you'd think he'd be here warning those silly japanese capitalists ...

[madokie]

2. It appears that this technology is poised for greatness

we all know we need to do something its just we can't agree on what that something we do is. This gives us a whole new route to take in removing our dependence on fossil fuels without having to go nuclear. I'm in the process of removing our roof and if these were available at a price I could pay I would be using them, plenty of roof here to supply us with our electrical needs with some left over. I can hardly wait to see this come to fruitation.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Check into Uni-Solar

http://www.uni-solar.com/interior.asp?id=102
http://www.alphasolar.com/alpha_solar_062.htm


http://www.blog.thesietch.org/2007/03/09/installing-thin-film-solar-on-metal-roof-easier-than-falling-off-a-log/

[Zachstar]

4. Looks like Thin-Film is exploding in the market!

Which is exactly what is needed to reduce the impact of AC units.

As think about it. When does one use AC the most? A hot Clear summer day. PERFECT weather for a solar cell.

[kentauros]

5. Here's another one that should get a mention and more research dollars:

Harvesting the sun's energy with antennas

Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory, along with partners at Microcontinuum Inc. (Cambridge, MA) and Patrick Pinhero of the University of Missouri, are developing a novel way to collect energy from the sun with a technology that could potentially cost pennies a yard, be imprinted on flexible materials and still draw energy after the sun has set.

The new approach, which garnered two 2007 Nano50 awards, uses a special manufacturing process to stamp tiny square spirals of conducting metal onto a sheet of plastic. Each interlocking spiral "nanoantenna" is as wide as 1/25 the diameter of a human hair.

Because of their size, the nanoantennas absorb energy in the infrared part of the spectrum, just outside the range of what is visible to the eye. The sun radiates a lot of infrared energy, some of which is soaked up by the earth and later released as radiation for hours after sunset. Nanoantennas can take in energy from both sunlight and the earth's heat, with higher efficiency than conventional solar cells.

"I think these antennas really have the potential to replace traditional solar panels," says physicist Steven Novack, who spoke about the technology in November at the National Nano Engineering Conference in Boston.

Hmm, I guess "solar" can work at night