a-Si
August 22, 2012
Sharp Solar Panels There have been hundreds of solar bankruptcies in the last couple of years as solar panel prices have gone down by almost 65% […]
July 12, 2012
Cadmium Tellurium Thin Film Solar Technology championed by thin film solar panel leader First Solar is set to become a victim of capitalism’s creative destruction as […]
July 2, 2012
The news report on Department of Energy informing of Abound Solar demise surprised many people and led to the usual media excitement of Obama’s faulty loans […]
June 21, 2012
Updated: 7/06/2016 Japanese Solar Panel companies Sharp, Kyocera, Panasonic-Sanyo, Mitsubishi were the top solar panel producers in the world. Solar Energy in Japan has a long […]
February 13, 2012
However it has now thankfully put its plan on hold of spending another 520 million euros on solar energy. The company has already wrote down $1 billion in solar after the valuations of Ersol and Aleo have crashed from the time it bought it. Note most Western solar companies are going bankrupt as they can't compete with the 80c/watt solar panel prices. Stalwarts Q-Cells are defaulting on the debt payments while according to Total CEO, Sunpower would have been bankrupt if they had not bought it. Even the biggest US Solar Panel Company First Solar has been ravaged by the price war. Bosch has bravely said that it would continue to remain in the solar panel market while it makes more sense for them now to make an exit and concentrate on their core competencies. It can realistically never hope to get into the top 20 solar panel suppliers and stop spending good money after the bad.
August 14, 2011
Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is integrating of photovoltaic modules into the building envelope such as roofs or windows.These solid-state devices are used to replace conventional building materials to generate electricity out of sunlight with no maintenance and help in fighting global warming as the produce no pollution.BIPV products are most useful in construction of new buildings as an ancillary source of electrical power, although existing you can retrofit old buildings with BIPV proudcts as well. The advantage of BIPV over normal standard PV panels is that they integrate into the buildings instead of sticking out leading some people to call it ugly.ALso they help in saving the amount of money spent on building materials and labor that would normally be used to construct the part of the building . These advantages make BIPV one of the fastest growing segments of the photovoltaic industry with some people estimating that the use of BIPV will increase at more than 50% annually over the next few years with more than 1 GW of BIPV modules installed in the last year.
August 1, 2011
BIPV is the acronym for Building Integrated Photovoltaics which means the integration of photovoltaic materials into building structures such as roofs,windows and facades.It not only replaces the building supplies but also generate electricity creating a killer green product.This is one of the fastest growing segment in the solar industry and it has been estimated that almost 6-7% of the solar industry is made of BIPV products.A wide variety of technologies and products are being used in creating BIPV products.Though a large number of big solar panel manufactures like Suntech,Yingli,Canadian Solar have come out with BIPV Panels and Products,the segment has not become as big mainly because of higher costs vis a vis the standard crystalline solar systems.There are also specialized BIPV suppliers such as Ascent Solar and Konarka whose products are more suited to the BIPV Industry than the normal module industry.Some of these suppliers have no option as their technology is no longer competitive with the Chinese solar panel producers.Solyndra had a niche product which could be used in rooftops with ease of installation and low weight.However the high costs drove it to bankruptcy.The next leg up to the BIPV industry should come up with more BIPV products from the Major Solar Companies and as cost of solar silicon decline further with scale and innovation
July 8, 2011
GE is one of the biggest companies in the world and has one of the biggest Green businesses as well.GE is the most profitable wind turbine manufacturer and is one of the largest renewable energy developers in the globe as well.GE like other electrical and power conglomerates like Siemens has decided to invest billions of dollars into Green Energy.Till recently Solar Energy had gotten scant attention from GE just like Siemens too has not invested a lot.However the 50% CAGR rates of Solar Energy,the fast declining costs have made it imperative for GE to have a presence in this market.GE had bought a thin film solar company Prime Solar a few years ago to acquire the Cadmium Tellerium Technology which First Solar uses in its Solar Panels.
July 7, 2011
Photovoltaic Module demand has increased by more than 50% each year in the last decade as solar panel costs have gone down sharply by almost 80% in the last 4 years alone as scale and technology have improved.Photovoltaic Modules are a combination of solar cells which generate electricity when light strikes them.Photovoltaic is the name given to this process where electrons are released when photo or light transfer its energy to the solar cells.The following article covers a large amount of literature on Photovoltaic Modules from its costs to selling prices as well as the efficiency of the Photovoltaic Module which affects the Energy Output.There are hundreds of Photovoltaic Module Manufacturers but only a few major ones.There are reviews on the major Photovoltaic Module Suppliers and Market as well.
July 6, 2011
New Solar Panels and New Scientific Breakthroughs in Solar Technology it seems are reported every month.But Solar Energy is still not competitive with Fossil Fuel Energy despite its obvious advantages.The costs of Solar Energy are declining quickly but they remain still some way from being on par with the dirty forms of energy like Coal.The reason for all these new exciting technologies which are reported in newspaper not being able to bring a fundamental change in the energy scenario is that the costs are too high.Bringing a new solar panel technology from the lab to the factory takes a lot of time and effort.During this time the incumbent technology like crystalline solar technology keeps advancing due to the massive global R&D dollars that are spend and the rising scale.This had made many new startups in solar technology like Solyndra ,Spectrawatt and others bite the dust.You can read about the large number of solar failures in the first wave of thin film solar bankruptcies .
July 6, 2011
Solar Shingles are niche solar products meant for use on roofs of houses.There are not a lot of manufacturers of solar shingles as they are a new product and more difficult to install than standard silicon solar panels.Solar Shingles are manufactured by mainly American companies like Dow,Energy Conversion Devices.Their high costs and lack of easy availability has meant that solar shingles have not really caught the imagination of the customers.Also Solar Shingles do not get any added subsidy from the government vis a vis Solar Panels.Thus the higher prices of electricity generated from solar shingles means that they have become a poorer cousin of the mainstream Solar Panels.Also Solar Integrators are more accustomed to buying and installing solar panels which makes it even more difficult to push the sale of solar shingles.
July 6, 2011
Solar Frontier is a Japanese company which was earlier known as Showa Shell Solar .The company joined the rank of major solar companies once it started the new 900MW “Kunitomi” production plant in Miyazaki.Note only is the company started big in production,it is rapidly signing deals around the globe in India,Middle East and America..The Company has recently signed Two Deals with 2 Global Heavyweights GE and IBM.It has signed a distribution deal with GE to sells its Copper Indium Selenide (CIS) Panels in USA while GE would provides the Balance of Systems components like inverters etc.It next signed a deal with IBM to jointly develop Copper Zinc Tin Sulfure Selenium (CZTS) Thin Film Technology.Note IBM is one of the biggest Technology Innovators and Solar Frontier has a long Thin Film History.
July 6, 2011
What is a Solar Cell
A solar cell is an electrical device that converts light energy directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect.Note Solar Cells can be made of many materials like Silicon,Cadmium Tellerium,CIGS and even on Organic Substrates.However almost 90% of the Solar Cells produced in the world currently are made of crystalline silicon.The drastic fall in prices of silicon solar cells has seen an explosive growth in demand with solar cell supply increasing by almost 50% per year in the last decade.
July 6, 2011
Solar Thin Film Technology has been growing rapidly despite falling costs of the mainstream Photovoltaic Crystalline Silicon Technology.While the current solar supply glut has resulted in some of the thin film solar film companies going out of business,big thin film suppliers continue with their growth plan.Solar Thin Film Technology is supposed to be the 2nd Generation successor to the mainstream Crystalline Silicon (c-Si) Technology which accounts for around 85% of world production.While a number of Weaker Hands in Thin Film have downed shutters,Thin Film Producers continue to grow and expand.The massive growth potential of Solar Energy makes it possible for both of these PV technologies to flourish.Thin Film Technology unlike c-Si has a number of variants.Amorphous Silicon (a-Si),Copper Indium Gallium Sulphide (CIGs) and Cadmium Tellurium (Cd-Te) are the 3 main types of Thin Film Technology.There are a number of manufacturers of all of these 3 types of Technology.CIGs Technology is said to have the most potential in improving efficiency and competing with c-Si,however Cd-Te is currently the top dog as the world’s biggest solar producer First Solar currently uses this technology.a-Si Technology is not that hot with low efficiencies however Oerlikon and Sharp are pushing ahead with developing this technology.
July 6, 2011
Kaneka is a Japanese company which is present in a number of product categories like chemicals,functional and expandable plastic products, foodstuffs, life science products and synthetic fibers.However the main focus of the company is in Thin Film Solar Panels.Kaneka has been developing amorphous silicon thin film technology since 1980 and has advanced manufacturing into developing higher efficiency tandem microcrystalline silicon solar panels.The company also sells transperant see through solar panels.Note Thin Film Technology is facing existential threat from the rapid price reduction in the mainstream crystalline silicon technology which comprises about 85% of the global solar panel market.Kaneka sells its solar modules under the HYBRID brand name which refers to its hybrid tandem thin film silicon technology.Note other companies like Sanyo,Mitsubishi.Oerlikon have also developed this form of technology which gives higher efficiency solar panels as it captures a bigger part of the solar spectrum.
July 6, 2011
Types of Solar Panels Explained (Amorphous,Polycrystalline,Monocrystalline with Efficiency) for Home
Types of Solar Panels have increased manifold with the surging global solar demand fueled by falling prices of solar panels/modules.Note Solar Panels prices would have fallen by around 75% in 3 years which is a record for any energy let alone solar energy.This has made Solar Electricity on par with Electricity prices in a number of places globally.The number of manufacturers of solar panels too has increased drastically particuarly in China and Asia.The range of technologies being used to made solar panels has also increased in tandem.However polyscrystalline silicon solar panels continues to be the king of solar panels accounting for a lion's share of solar panels produced globally (around 75% according to my estimates).Each Solar Panel Technology differs from others in terms of efficiency and price.They also differ in their electricity production capabilities depending on temperature.They also differ in weight and flexibility.The Sizes of Solar Panels are also quite different and different powered solar panels are required for different applications.For a small power need like charging a mobile phone only a 5-20 watt solar panel would do while for powering a solar house you would need a number of 200-300 watt solar panels.
July 6, 2011
First Solar is going to the biggest producer of solar panels in the world despite having a solar panel technology which differs from almost all of its competitors.First Solar Solar Panels use Cadmium-Tellurium Thin Film Solar Technology while the majority of the Solar Industry uses Crystalline Silicon Technology.Despite the difference First Solar is the most valued solar stock in the world and has been for a long time.Despite stiff competition from the silicon technology and most of the thin film companies going bankrupt,First Solar has managed to hold on cutting costs and improving yields continuously.In fact First Solar Solar Panels have the lowest cost of production in the world.First Solar Solar Panels efficiency has also increased in the last few years such that First Solar is now targeting commercial segments of the market.Note First Solar earlier used to sell solar panels mostly to developers and utilities to build ground mounted solar panel farms where the lower efficiency of the Cd-Te solar panels did not matter.The reason is that in large solar farms space and area constraints are not there unlike in rooftops where the space is a major issue.
July 6, 2011
Amorphous Silicon Solar Panels were the big rage in 2-3 years ago when the prices of polysilicon the main raw material were touching $500/kg making the mainstream crystalline silicon solar panels very expensive.Amorphous Silicon (a-Si) on the other hand is a non-crystalline silicon which is deposited as an extremely thin layer on glass and other substrates.The cost of the silicon is much lower though the efficiency of solar cells which are made from a-Si is about half of those made from crystalline silicon.Applied Materials with its SunFab turnkey amorphous silicon (a-Si) equipment capitalized on this opportunity, lining up a number of customers with some customer orders in the range of a Billion Dollars.Oerlikon Solar was the other major thin film equipment market winning customers in Europe and China.Sky high poly prices also gave birth to numerous Thin Film startups planning to Manufacture and Use their own equipment rather than selling it .
July 1, 2011
Solar Thin Film Companies are coming under siege again due to the relentless fall in the prices of crystalline silicon panels in recent months of 2011.Note large number of thin film companies went bankrupt the last time polysilicon prices fell off a cliff in the post Lehman crisis period in 2008 end.Applied Material the biggest solar equipment company killed off its SunFab Division which has a large customer list.Applied Materials saw the writing on the wall and concentrated its efforts on crystalline silicon equipment buying HCT Shaping and Baccini to become a billion dollar supplier of solar equipment.A number of weaker hands in solar thin film went out of business.However the prodigious growth in solar demand in 2010 saw large investments being made again.The biggest failure (not complete yet) seems to be the DOE and Obama darling CIGs startup Solyndra which has already used up a billion dollars with nothing much to write home about .Now Republicans are investigating whether the more than $500 million US government loan was done improperly.Abound Solar a CdTe startup has also managed a $400 million loan and I doubt whether it will manage to ever pay off the loan given that the lowest cost manufacturer of solar panels First Solar itself is under pressure from sharp cost reduction by integrated solar panel companies like Trina Solar.
May 31, 2011
DuPont Apollo is a wholly-owned subsidiary of DuPont started a 50 MW thin-film photovoltaic module manufacturing facility at Shenzen in 2010. DuPont Apollo is focused on the China domestic market but seems like that they are not getting too much traction in the hyper competitive Chinese market and now trying its hand in the Indian market where solar manufacturing industry is not too competitive.
Indian Solar Energy Market has seen the entry of many foreign companies eager to tap this huge opportunity.This list of foreign solar companies in India keeps growing on a daily basis with both startups like Abound and large companies like First Solar,Suntech making India as an integral part of their global growth strategy.DuPont the global chemicals giant too has entered the solar energy industry in partnership with Wipro EcoEnergy.DuPont Apollo will supply Wipro with its Thin Film Amorphous Silicon Solar Panels which will be used in the grid projects.Note a number of Joint Ventures in Indian solar industry have been recently formed.
April 17, 2011
A lot of confusion exists about solar cells efficiency about which technology results in how much efficiency and the difference between solar cells and the solar panels efficiency.Note the biggest differentiator of a solar cell besides its cost is its efficiency.Not only do different materials give different efficiencies,even different companies have conversion efficiencies which differ for the same technology.Silicon Solar Cell Efficiency also depends on the purity of the solar wafer which is used as raw material to print solar cells besides whether it is monocrystalline or multicrystalline solar cells.With most of the low lying fruit already gathered in respect to lowering cost of the silicon solar cells,most of the big Chinese solar companies are concentrating their efforts in improving the efficiency in order to cut down costs in the cutthroat solar industry where the stars of yesterday are fighting to stay alive (Energy Conversion Devices,Evergreen Solar).This rising tide of the solar industry in 2010 has not been able to revive the fortune of some companies though European companies have made enough to fight another day.Solar Cells Efficiencies also differ in the champion cells tested in labs like NREL and on commercial lines.But here is a general range of efficiency of different types of solar cells made from different technologies
Solar Cell Efficiency Improvement is the best way to reduce the costs of solar power and reach grid parity in most places in the world.Solar Cell Efficiencies have improved continuously and with a number of companies and startups investing billions of dollars in research,it will keep improving.However cost considerations are an important factor as well and the technology which balances the two will win the solar energy race
April 14, 2011
First Solar Thin Film Leader and the largest solar company by value has decided to shift focus towards the commercial segment between 10-30 KW in size..The company was promoted by Wal-Mart promoters and has seen remarkable growth in the last few.This US based company uses Cadmium Tellurium (Cd-Te) Technology and is the lowest cost panel producer in the world today if you don’t include any penalty for low efficiency.Note First Solar derives most of its revenues from large utility solar power plants where the lower costs of its Cadmium Tellerium Solar Panels compensates for the Lower Efficiency of its Solar Panels.It does not get too many sales to the commercial and residential market where its lower efficiency panels lose out as they require much larger space to generate the same amount of power. First Solar Panels don't sell well in applications where space is a constraint.Note Sunpower which is the highest efficiency commercial c-Si solar module producer wins out in applications with space constraint.
February 20, 2011
Solar Thin Film Technology has been growing rapidly despite falling costs of the mainstream Photovoltaic Crystalline Silicon Technology.While a number of Weaker Hands in Thin Film have downed shutters,Thin Film Producers continue to grow and expand.The massive growth potential of Solar Energy makes it possible for both of these PV technologies to flourish.Thin Film Technology unlike c-Si has a number of variants.Amorphous Silicon (a-Si),Copper Indium Gallium Sulphide (CIGs) and Cadmium Tellurium (Cd-Te) are the 3 main types of Thin Film Technology.There are a number of manufacturers of all of these 3 types of Technology.CIGs Technology is said to have the most potential in improving efficiency and competing with c-Si,however Cd-Te is currently the top dog as the world's biggest solar producer First Solar currently uses this technology.a-Si Technology is not that hot with low efficiencies however Oerlikon and Sharp are pushing ahead with developing this technology.Here is a list of the world's top Thin Film Companies.
February 14, 2011
Moser Bear,the Indian Solar Company was one of the first customers for the now extinct Applied Materials a-Si SunFab Technology.The company had invested in a number of solar technologies quite early on,but has not managed to succeed in a single one much like the Abu Dhabi promoted Masdar.The Jack of all Trades strategy has come undone for both of these companies.While Chinese and some US companies have prospered despite stiff competition,most of the others have sunk.While most of AMAT customers have written off their investment in thin film equipment and factories,Moser Baer has not done so.But from its current action it seems to have given up at least in its thin film ambitions.Moser Bear has contracted for 25 MW of First Solar thin film modules.Note First Solar is the biggest thin film producer of solar panels and a direct competitor to Moser Baer.So it seems that Moser Baer has pretty much abandoned its thin film panels since if it itself does not use its own panels,don't think a 3rd party would do so.
December 1, 2010
Chinese Solar Companies have increased their global marketshare of the Solar Panel to around 60% from virtually 0% in 2006.The Solar Panel Dominance of the Chinese has been growing since last year as Europeans and Japanese have found no answer to their cheap solar panels.Q-Cells,Solarworld and other European companies have been reduced to bit players in the Solar Market as the low cost Asians have ramped up their capacity and shipments in 2009 and 2010.The only reason that they continue to survive is the more than 100% growth in the Solar Demand in 2010.With oversupply expected in 2011,Europeans will be virtually wiped out from the world solar panel market due to their high cost uncompetitive business models.European solar factories are closing as the remaining companeis shift their production to low cost Malaysia and Singapore.
September 7, 2010
Applied Materials which was the 800 lb Gorilla in the a-Si Thin Film Equipment raking in Billions of Dollars in Orders from established Solar Leaders like Q-Cells and Suntech also found itself in trouble.With its SunFab Division leading Millions of Dollars and fast losing its economic viability,AMAT was forced to conduct Euthanisia.Its customers like SunFilm,Moser Baer,Suntech also have pretty much shut down their factories writing off large investments.However Oerlikon is not giving up like AMAT
August 12, 2010
Honda's modules have an efficiency of 11.6% which seems lower than those claimed by the TSMC-Stion,Miasole and Q-Cells.These companies are claiming 13% efficiency though none of these companies have large scale commercial production as of now.Q-Cells and Miasole are at the head of the CIGs pack with companies like Nanosolar,Solyndra,Solar Frontier and TSMC-Stion closely following.CIGs technology is said to be the best thin film technology better than the Cd-Te technology used by First Solar and a-Si technology used by Sharp and the now bankrupt Applied Materials thin film division.
July 29, 2010
SMC seems to have made a strategic call to focus on the thin film Cadmium Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGs) Technology instead of the mainstream crystalline silicon (c-Si) technology.Note CIGs technology is the most promising thin film technology with yields much higher than the other technologies like Cadmium Tellurium (CdTe) used by First Solar and amorphous Silicon (a-Si) which was used by AMAT's Subfab division.