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The Solar Power Magazine

International 7-2016

Will it work?
Long-term stability and the use of lead remain the biggest
challenges for the development of perovskite solar cells

»Eco-Solar Factory« Energy Yield worldwide Market leader in trouble »I was wrong«
A research project is PTB is now able to specify the The solar crisis in Germany Interview with David Keith,
developing a solar factory that yield from solar cells with a has now hit mounting system Professor of Applied Physics at
is much more energy efficient never before reached accuracy specialist Schletter Harvard
editorial | in this issue

Maturity in the making

S imply imagine that you work for a mechanical engineer-

ing company and it’s your job to choose the right electric
motor for the drive oftohine. And now imagine that all of
Even the IEC 61852 norm currently being developed aims
to make module yield comparable. Parts one and two of the
norm have already been released and describe which mea-
the manufacturers of electric motors provide you with data surement values should be stated (generally those are the
sheets that only include information on the dimensions, values that the PTB has outlined for solar cells). Parts three
weight and operating voltage of the motors. They don’t pres- and four will include the rules for calculating the yield based
ent any specs relating to rotational speed or engine torque. So on these module characteristics using standardized meteo-
now you have to start trying out a number of different motors rological data.
just to see which one works best with theyour new machine. Even though this may all sound very technical, it is actu-
A little absu right? And yet that is exactly the position that ally a huge leap forward commercially for PV. As solar parks
solar park planners find themselves in on a daily basis. While are increasing in size – with some occasionally close to be-
they receive information from solar module manufacturers coming GW plants – they require huge levels of investment,
about the current-voltage characteristic curve under certain even in spite of falling PV plant prices. And whether a PV
irradiation conditions and within a defined spectrum, they plant has 5-percent more yield or less man make the differ-
don’t know how a module will perform if the spectrum dif- ence between making a profit and bearingincurries. Until
fers. And that’s a major issue, especially considering that the now, planning PV plants has been a lot about gut instinct,
spectrum of sunlight alters constantly over the course of the experience and a certain alement of luck. Planners could re-
day and depending on the specific location. So it’s high time ally only take a stab at choosing the best module for a certain
that something was done to solve this problem. location. But that is all about to change. Improved character-
The National Metrology Institute of Germany (PTB), ization – likeas PTB is offering – cned with further improved
which provides reference solar cells to research institutes simulation programs that are able to fully utilize the exten-
and solar companies around the world, has recently im- sive amounts of data will allow precise yield prognoses to be
proved its method used for the complete measurement made for PV plants with a deviation of just a few percent.
characterization of solar cells. In contrast to production- That will reduce the safety margins of lenders, and the costs
related measurements, this doesn’t only involve plotting a of the solar power produced n turn. Importantly, it will allow
current- vltage curve at different irradiation conditions. It financing to be awarded to a lot of projects to receive fincing
allows a manufactured cell to be completely characterized, whichthatcted as the result of imse yield prognoses.
showing how it reacts to different wavelengths of light, wat
hit the solar cell at various angles. The method also allows As always, I would be happy to discuss this subject with
the influence of temperature of the calculated. Using the you in more detail. Please send me an email to
data that this provides, the yield potential of any character- [email protected].
ized solar cell can be calculated for any location around the
world using a suitable mathematical solar cell model – .
Though that thereenoughrradiation data for the planned
location of the project.
Currently, an entire research project is working on the
challenge of turning the extensive number of measured specs
measured ie yield prognoses. Since 2014, a dozen European
research institutes have been involved in a project called
Photoclass, which is coordinated by the PTB and aims to
classify PV modules based on their yield. An important part
of the research is developing standard reference conditions
for different climate zones. Information relating to wind
speed (which influences the temperature of the modules),
direct diffuse irradiation, spectral composition according to
the angle of incidence and ambient temperature has to be
available for every hour of the year.

Publisher and founder of PHOTON Philippe Welter

4 July 2016
PI in brief

Top stories in July

Since PHOTON International reported on the status of research fell by 4.8 percent. The balance since the year began is, however, far
related to perovskite solar cells around 2 years ago, the effi- worse: the index is 28.6 percent below its level on January 1. Only five of
ciency levels of the best lab cells have risen from 17.9 percent the 30 shares listed in the index managed to increase in value in 2016 at
to 22.1 percent. Tandem cells using silicon have already exceeded the all. So far, the year has been going best for a newcomer to the index, the
25-percent mark. However, there are still a lot of challenges to overcome Taiwanese Green Energy Technology Inc. Ltd. p. 43
before the fruits of any research team’s labor become available on the
open market. p. 50 Europe’s solar development remains weak compared to growth
in the Americas and Asia. In Germany, where installed PV power is
The German National Metrology Institute (Physikalisch-Technische growing at very low levels, the sector’s players seem more interested in
Bundesanstalt, PTB) is supplying calibrated reference solar cells to seeking new opportunities in the storage segment. France, meanwhile,
research institutes and companies worldwide, which can be used to keeps installing new PV systems – but the pace is set by the govern-
identify all parameters of a solar cell necessary to forecast the yield at any ment. French energy giant EDF is encouraging its clients to go solar
given site. The precision involved is new: By using lasers, the measurement with onsite consumption solutions, and in Italy, oil company ENI has
uncertainty is, according to the PTB, now less than 0.4 percent. To ensure announced ambitious solar plans. Moreover, despite recent feed-in tar-
this development can unfold its full potential, the manufacturers of simula- iff (FIT) cuts, the number of large-scale PV projects announced in the
tion software now need to modify their programs. p. 60 UK has not decreased dramatically. p. 24

Irrespective of ecological valuable, manufacturing products Although market research company IHS has predicted that PV
such as solar modules requires certain resources. As long as so- installations in China will fall by 80 percent in the third quarter
lar factories continue to use fossil fuels, it can take several months or of 2016, triggering a sharp slowdown in global demand, the Chi-
years for a PV system – depending on the location – to make up for the nese market has seemed to be quite dynamic in the past month
CO2 emissions caused during production. An EU-funded project, called with several large-scale PV projects announced or completed. India
Eco-Solar, now has the specific goal of reducing the CO2 footprint by maintains acceptable levels of growth, which highlights that the gov-
around a quarter. p. 32 ernment’s efforts to increase its solar installation figures are paying off.
Japan is also increasing its installed PV power despite recent feed-in
The mounting system manufacturer Schletter is about to be re- tariff (FIT) cuts. Meanwhile, Myanmar is preparing to host its first giant
structured. Details were announced for mid-May, however nothing has solar project. p. 12
been forthcoming to date. Job losses will be almost unavoidable, even if
sales revenue figures for the last few years are good. Schletter’s problem The extension of the ITC has had a positive impact on the US
is not actually the photovoltaic market itself, because it is growing, and market. In the first quarter alone, the country registered new PV
the company maintains a worldwide presence. What is likely is that it systems with a combined capacity of only 1.67 GW, but more than
will increase its focus on the solar business, but that its home market 14 GW are expected for the entire year. Argentina, meanwhile, has an-
will continue losing significance for its future strategy. p. 36 nounced its first renewable energy auction, in which 300 MW of in-
stalled PV power will be allocated, and Mexico is preparing its second
The PHOTON inverter price index exhibits a highly stable price auction for large-scale solar and renewable projects. Furthermore, El
trend for the month of May – or more exactly, the period from May 6 Salvador is set to host a 100 MW PV project and Chile keeps growing at
to June 3 – when compared to the month before. When compared to the a constant pace. p. 18
same period last year, inverters have, however, become significantly less
expensive. p. 38

The prices determined by PHOTON Consulting for solar mod-

ules purchased ex-works from selected, stock exchange-listed
manufacturers fell by 0.4 percent to $0.593 over the period surveyed
for this edition – from May 6 to June 3. Compared to its level twelve
months ago ($0.695), the trend value has fallen by 14.7 percent. As has
meanwhile been a standard phenomenon for around two years now,
these price movements are not really affecting European markets. The
trend values for modules on the German spot market and in wholesale
recorded in the PHOTON module price index are, depending on the
category, mostly only slightly below, and occasionally even higher than,
their level last year. In any case, they have not fallen as much as ex-
works prices. p. 40

Over the period surveyed for this issue – the five weeks from
April 29 to June 3 – the PHOTON Photovoltaic Stock Index PPVX

July 2016 5
 Thor Nielsen / SINTEF
32 36

Schletter GmbH
Not rubbish: Eco-Solar project leader Martin Bellmann takes a look at a solar cell Represented on all the important markets: A Schletter mounting system on the
with a broken corner. roof of a cattle breeding company in China.

markets business
interview manufacturing technology
8 Did you ever hear your professor say »I was wrong?« David 32 Research project Eco-Solar aims to make the production of
Keith, Professor at the prestigious Harvard University, did solar modules even more environmentally friendly
so when he found out that solar has now become really
cheap. schletter restructuring
36 Schletter GmbH is one of the largest mounting system
africa & middle east manufacturer in the world. Its management has now
10 Solar policy, regulatory and market news across Africa & announced it will be »restructuring«.
Middle East

asia pacific
12 Solar policy, regulatory and market news across Asia-Pacific
region

americas
18 Solar policy, regulatory and market news across the
Americas

20 SEPA column: Utilities the unacknowledged catalysts for the

first million solar installations in the U.S.A.

europe
24 Solar policy, regulatory and market news in Europe

26 SPE column: The right electricity market design for solar

service
4 editorial

5 in this issue

30 subscriptions

31 back issues

66 conferences & events

74 industry registry

79 contacts page

80 10 years ago

81 publishing, advertisers list

82 preview

6 July 2016
 CSEM Centre Suisse d´Électronique et de Microtechnique

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)

50 60
Perovskite research at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology Test station used at the German National Metrology Institute: The solar cells are
(CSEM) in Neuchâtel in Switzerland. exposed to rays of monochromatic laser light at the same time as white light.

finance & economics science & technology

inverter price index perovskite
38 Inverter prices to June 3 50 Perovskite solar cells are believed to offer a great amount of
promise, but the challenges the technology is facing are still
module price index considerable
40 Module prices to June 3
56 Interview: »There are an unbelievable amount of ideas«
photon photovoltaic stock index
43 Two heavyweights less yield prognoses
60 The use of lasers is allowing the German PTB to measure
44 Quarterly results solar cells with much higher precision

R&D news
64 Monthly news on highlights in solar R&D

Cover 7/2016
Perovskite research at the Swiss Center for
Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) in
Neuchâtel in Switzerland.

Photo
CSEM Centre Suisse d´Électronique et de
Microtechnique

July 2016 7
markets | interview

»Things really
have changed«
Did you ever hear your professor say
»I was wrong?« David Keith, Professor
at the prestigious Harvard University,

Harvard University
did so when he found out that solar
has now become really cheap. David Keith, Professor of Applied Physics at Harvard

I have long been skeptical of solar hype.« David Keith, Profes-

sor for Applied Physics at Harvard, wrote this on his blog in
late April this year. »The solar market was driven by incentives,
Short answer: The big, commercial solar power installations with their
really small prices. So I still do think that solar on rooftops doesn’t make a
lot of sense – it’s not a very cost-effective way to cut emissions. Five years
like tax credits and feed-in tariffs that drove rooftop solar seem ago, people talked about how the learning curve may go on forever, but I
systems which are (arguably) little more than green bling for the was skeptical that it would, and the actual costs were really still quite high.
wealthy. I worried that deployment incentives would simply lock Now they have dropped a lot. Another thing I was wrong about was when
in the current technologies and do little to drive breakthroughs that I said you could only get to these really cheap system prices if some sort
were needed to get solar cheap enough to compete for commodity of breakthrough occurred, bringing fundamentally new technology be-
power.« And concluded: »I was wrong.« We wanted to learn more yond this conventional crystalline silicon. And that was exactly what has
details and gave him a call. not happened. There has been no single breakthrough, no kind of Nobel
Prize-winning thing coming out of a laboratory, just little, incremental
improvements. In fact, spending the money on market support the way
For years you have been stating solar was little more than »green Germany’s political leadership had been doing turned out to be the right
bling for the wealthy«. You have now published a blog on »cheap thing.
solar« in which you clearly state: »I was wrong«. What reactions
have you received? Your wrote that solar will be »the cheapest electricity on the plan-
et«. Do you think these findings will now become mainstream? Are
One particular reaction I got from a guy from the IEA was to say I leading politicians aware of cheap solar?
might have been wrong about wind as well, but I don’t think so. I think
this is really different. I have long felt, like for 20 years or so, that solar was I would say that among senior politicians, I don’t know. But among
one of a few energy sources you could really expand hugely, into tens of senior energy experts – these are the people who are lead consultants or
terawatts of power, without having a huge environmental impact. top academics or people from the energy business; in the US, these are
people like EPRI, the Energy Power Research Industries Association – I
Do you think solar will become cheaper than wind power? do get a sense that people are waking up to the fact that things really have
changed.
Yes, that will clearly happen. I recently talked to a senior person at Ac-
ciona, that big Spanish company, which is big in wind, and it is actually Thank you for the interview.
shifting to solar because prices are going down so fast. Wind prices have
declined but they haven’t declined that much. Solar has come down by a
factor of two or three within the last few years, and I think it hasn’t even Interview Anne Kreutzmann
started. Even without any technological breakthroughs, getting down to
something like 50 cents a watt for an installed system is highly plausible. Further information
To read the full blog: www.keith.seas.harvard.edu/blog/cheapsolarpower
For many years now, you have been very skeptical about solar en-
ergy. What made you change your mind? Contacts page 79

8 July 2016
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markets | africa & middle east | news

Solar policy, regulatory and market which was built by the company’s local subsid- lion MAD ($56.2 million) in the project. The
news across Africa & Middle East iary, EDF EN Israël, relies on over 200,000 so- factory will produce solar cells and modules
lar modules provided by EDF’s Photowatt unit. based on Hareon’s PV technology.
Iran prepares to host its first ever solar EDF EN has not provided any more informa-
module factory, while Morocco was cho- tion about the project. Including this plant, the Saudi Arabia
sen by Chinese producers to host a 160 MW company’s installed PV capacity in Israel has Saudi electric utility company Saudi
PV panel manufacturing facility. Jordan reached 160 MW. Electricity Company (SCE) has issued an
keeps maintaining a good level of solar de- expression of interest for the develop-
velopment and Israel’s Negev desert saw Jordan ment of two 50 MW PV plants in Al-Jouf
its installed capacity increase by 50 MW The European Bank for Reconstruc- and Rafha, in the north of the Kingdom of
last month. tion and Development (EBRD) has agreed Saudi Arabia. Selected projects will sell their
to provide Sunrise Solar Energy Psc with power output to SCE under a long-term power-
Iran $26.1 million in financing. The company will purchase agreement (PPA). Interested parties
The Industrial Development and Renova- invest the funds in the construction of a 50 MW should express their interest to participate in
tion Organization of Iran (IDRO) and German solar power plant in Mafraq, Jordan. The proj- the procurement process by no later than June
PV equipment maker Schmid Group are ect’s total investment requirements amount to 20, 2016.
planning to set up a solar module factory in $70.6 million. The plant is scheduled to be com-
Iran. The factory will produce everything from pleted in August 2017. South Africa
polysilicon to modules and will have an initial French energy giant Engie has secured
annual capacity of 200 MW. The IDRO plans to Kenya a 20-year PPA for a 100 MW concentrat-
expand the factory’s capacity at a later stage. No Kenya’s Makueni County is planning the ing solar power (CSP) project it intends
more details were provided about the facility. construction of a 40 MW solar park. Local to build in South Africa from local utility
Schmid’s CEO, Christian Schmid, said: »We newspaper Capital Business reports that the Eskom. The power plant, named Kathu Solar
are proud to start collaboration with a respect- plant will be located in Kavuko in Kilome sub- Park, will be located in the Northern Cape Prov-
ed organization like the IDRO and consider this county and will help increase electricity access ince. The project is owned by a consortium led
agreement as an excellent opportunity to estab- in the area from the current level of 5.9 percent by Engie, which includes local investors SIOC
lish a long-term partnership in an important to 40 percent. The project is part of the county’s Community Development Trust, the Investec
future PV market. The fully integrated manu- recently released Vision 2025 plan. No addi- bank, Lereko Metier and the Public Investment
facturing facility and the excellent academic tional details were given. Corporation. Engie has a 48.5-percent stake in
infrastructure in Iran will enable an ideal PV the consortium. The project will be financed
research and development hub in Iran, and the Morocco using an undisclosed sum from local banks
joint R&D collaboration will be an integral part Moroccan provider of aluminum window Rand Merchant Bank, Nedbank Capital, ABSA
of our partnership with the IDRO.« systems Jet Contractors and Chinese solar Capital, Investec and the Development Bank of
manufacturer Hareon are planning the South Africa.
Israel construction of a solar cell and PV module
French renewable energy developer manufacturing facility in Morocco. Accord-
EDF Energies Nouvelles, a unit of the EDF ing to media24, the factory will have an initial
group, has completed construction on a 50 annual production capacity of 160 MW and will
MW PV plant in the Negev desert, in Israel. be located near Tanger, in northern Morocco.
The Zmorot solar photovoltaic power plant, The two companies will jointly invest 550 mil- Compilation Emiliano Bellini

Teaming up in Tanger: Hareon pursues plans for cell

and module production in Morocco.

Entire coverage: IDRO’s solar module factory in Iran

will produce everything from polysilicon to modules.
Rolf Schulten / photon-pictures.com

10 July 2016

Ups and downs of solar in Africa and Middle East
Morocco
Tunisia
Syria
North Atlantic Mediterranean Sea Lebanon
Ocean 7 Iraq
Iran
Israel
Kuwait
Canary Islands Algeria Libya Jordan Bahrain
Egypt Qatar
Western
Sahara Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates

Mauritania Oman
Mali Niger
Senegal Chad Sudan Eritrea
Gambia Yemen Arabian Sea
Guinea Bissau 1 Djibouti
Guinea Nigeria
Sierra Leone 2 South Ethiopia
Liberia 4 Sudan
Benin 3
Somalia
Ghana 5 Uganda
Equator Ivory Gulf of 6 Democratic Kenya
Coast Guinea Gabon Republic Rwanda
Congo of Congo Burundi
Tanzania
Seychelles
Comoros
1 Burkina Faso South Atlantic
2 Togo Ocean Angola Malawi
3 Cameroon Zambia
4 Central African Republic
5 Equatorial Guinea Mauritius
6 Sao Tome and Principe Namibia Zimbabwe
7 Palestinian Territories Botswana Mozambique
Channel Indian Ocean

Mozambique
positive solar news South Madagascar
mixed or neutral solar news Africa Swaziland
negative solar news Lesotho

Schmid Group

July 2016 11
markets | asia-pacific | news

Solar policy, regulatory and market in size than 1 MW were commissioned in the owned by Chinese PV company LDK Solar,
news across Asia-Pacific country last year. Furthermore, the CEC reports has completed four distributed generation
that more than 8,000 MW of wind power and PV projects with a combined capacity of
Although market research company IHS 2,500 MW of solar power projects are either un- 12.8 MW in China. The company’s e-commerce
has predicted that PV installations in China der construction or have planning approval. and investment platform Solarbao provided fi-
will fall by 80 percent in the third quarter of German renewable energy company nancial leasing services for the projects. The in-
2016, triggering a sharp slowdown in glob- Juwi has completed construction of a 10.6 stallations range in size from 1.8 to 5 MW and
al demand, the Chinese market has seemed MW solar plus 6 MW battery facility at the are located across several Chinese provinces.
to be quite dynamic in the past month with DeGrussa Copper Mine, in western Austra- According to SPI, investors in the four projects
several large-scale PV projects announced lia. According to the company, the new power were able to purchase the PV modules and kits
or completed. India maintains acceptable plant fully integrates with the existing 19 MW used in the construction phase and lease them
levels of growth, which highlights that the diesel-fired power station at the mine and will back for a fixed fee.
government’s efforts to increase its solar provide most of the daytime electricity. Juwi Chinese PV inverter manufacturer Sun-
installation figures are paying off. Japan is also claims that the plant will be the largest in- grow recently announced it has signed
also increasing its installed PV power de- tegrated off-grid solar power system to be used a cooperation agreement with Swedish-
spite recent feed-in tariff (FIT) cuts. Mean- in the mining industry anywhere in the world. Swiss industrial conglomerate ABB. Under
while, Myanmar is preparing to host its The Australian Renewable Energy Agency the terms of the agreement, Sungrow and ABB
first giant solar project. (ARENA) provided $20.9 million in financing will cooperate on developing and promoting
for the project, while Australia’s Clean Energy new products in the solar inverter business. The
Australia Finance Corporation (CEFC) and French IPP two companies intend to co-design a medium
Renewable energies covered 14.6 per- Neoen provided the remaining funds. voltage inverter container that can be used for
cent of Australia’s electricity demand in large-scale solar projects in all markets.
2015, up from 13.5 percent a year earlier. China Sungrow unveiled its SG3000HV-MV medi-
This is one of the key findings in the Clean Chinese solar manufacturer JA Solar um-voltage inverter container for PV systems
Energy Australia report for 2015, which was Holdings Co. Ltd. has announced it will up to 3 MW at SNEC 2016 in Shanghai as a
published by Australia’s Clean Energy Council supply 420 MW of its modules for a PV solution for 1,500 V solar systems. According
(CEC). Of the power produced by renewable technology demonstration project in Da- to the company, the unit enables developers to
energies, 40.1 percent came from hydropower, tong, in Shanxi province, China. The com- connect together more modules, while reduc-
while wind and solar covered 33.7 percent pany has not disclosed the value of the supply ing system costs and power generating losses.
and 17 percent of demand, respectively. Solar agreement. The project, which will have a to- Moreover, Sungrow claims the device makes
and wind power plants, which increased their tal capacity of 950 MW, is being developed by communication between customers and suppli-
power generation by approximately 20 percent the country’s National Energy Administration ers more efficient.
last year, were able to compensate hydropower (NEA) and is the first of several planned GW- Chinese financial institute China Minsh-
plants, which registered a substantial drop due scale Front Runner projects. Overall, the project eng Bank is planning to invest 100 billion
to low rainfall. will require an investment of $1.6 billion and CNY ($15.2 billion) in solar projects over
The agency stressed that rooftop solar will consist of 13 PV power stations. the next 5 years. According to Bloomberg,
reached the 5 GW milestone in Australia in US vertically integrated solar project the company’s Minsheng New Energy Invest-
early 2016 and that only eight PV plants larger developer SPI Solar Inc., which is partially ment Co. unit will quadruple its solar power

Juwi AG

Off-grid: Juwi recently completed construction on the 10.6 MW solar plus 6 MW battery facility at the DeGrussa Copper Mine in western Australia.

12 July 2016

Ups and downs of solar in Asia

Russia

Sea of
Okhotsk
Kaliningrad Kazakhstan
Mongolia
Georgia Caspian
2 3
Armenia Sea Sea of
1 Japan
North Korea
Turkmenistan 4 South Korea
China Japan
Afghanistan
East China
Nepal Sea
Pakistan Bhutan
Bangladesh Taiwan
Vietnam
India Myanmar Laos
South China
Bay of Sea
Thailand
Bengal
Cambodia Philippines
Sri Lanka
Malaysia Brunei
Equator Singapore Papua New
Guinea
Java
Sea Indonesia Banda
Sea
Indian Ocean
East Timor

Australia
1 Azerbaijan
2 Uzbekistan
3 Kyrgyzstan
4 Tajikistan

New Zealand
positive solar news
mixed or neutral solar news
negative solar news

plant portfolio through this new investment. So is aiming to generate »considerable income« not within Hanergy Holding. The company also
far, the unit has invested 12 billion CNY ($1.8 from commercial PV systems to be sold for ag- said that the move is intended to strengthen
billion) in 20 solar projects with a combined riculture in 2016. Moreover, the article reveals corporate governance and that it will enable the
capacity of 1.4 GW. With the new investments, that Hanergy secured a 636 million CNY ($96.6 management to focus on other business devel-
China Minsheng hopes to reach a cumulative million) loan from China Development Bank opment. »The position changes of certain direc-
installed PV power of 12 GW by 2020. Corp. for the construction of a 600 MW solar tors at Hanergy Thin Film Power were normal
China-based thin-film solar company cell manufacturing facility in Zibo in China’s organizational and personnel changes, which
Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Ltd. is eastern province of Shandong. we hope the media and the general public will
using dealerships to expand into the resi- Li Hejun, the founder and chairman of not over interpret,« said Hanergy Holding in its
dential PV business in China, according to Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, who is press release.
Bloomberg, citing a statement from Haner- also the richest man in China, has decided Chinese wafer, solar cell and PV mod-
gy’ parent company Hanergy Holding Group to resign as an executive director and the ule manufacturer Shunfeng International
Ltd. The article reports that Hanergy is adopt- chairman of the company’s board of direc- Ltd. (SFCE) has announced it could sell its
ing a dealership model similar to that used by tors. In a press release, Hanergy Thin Film’s par- subsidiary Jiangsu Shunfeng Photovoltaic
automobile makers and that it has signed agree- ent company Hanergy Holding Group stressed Technology Co., which owns manufactur-
ments with more than 1,300 dealers since 2015. that this and other changes are related solely ing assets belonging to the company’s Wuxi
Furthermore, Bloomberg reports that Hanergy to positions at Hanergy Thin Film Power and Suntech unit, to China-based investment firm

July 2016 13
markets | asia-pacific | news

Von Ardenne GmbH

Signing ceremony: Von Ardenne and CNBM inked their latest contract at SNEC

Hanergy Holding Group Limited

in Shanghai on May 24.

Resignement: Li Hejun leaves his position as an executive director and chairman

at Hanergy Thin Film Power.

Asia-Pacific (China) Investment Management notes that many solar module suppliers are un- in developing, funding, constructing and oper-
Ltd. for 5 billion CNY ($759.5 million). Shun- der extreme financial pressure with precarious ating power plants. The company has not dis-
feng has signed a non-binding memorandum balance sheets and that a further shakeout and closed any more details about the projects.
of understanding (MOU) with Asia-Pacific consolidation in the industry is likely for sup- Thailand-based coal mining company
(China) Investment Management relating to pliers that are unable to operate over the next Banpu PCL has announced that a unit of
the transaction. Shunfeng stressed it intends two to three quarters at very limited margins. its subsidiary Banpu Power Public Co. Ltd.
to focus its business on the development of Germany-based equipment manufacturer has agreed to acquire four PV power plants
generation of solar power and operation of Von Ardenne GmbH plans to supply several with a combined capacity of 78.5 MW in
solar power plants. Shunfeng has also signed coating systems for the production of thin- China. The company said that the plants are
a cooperation agreement with the municipal film PV modules to subsidiaries of China still under construction and are expected to
government of Luoyang, in Hebei province, National Building Materials (CNBM). The come online by mid-2016 without providing
China. Under the terms of the agreements, both equipment will be used for the production of further details. Banpu had previously invested
parties have agreed to jointly develop a green, copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar $170 million in solar in Japan. The operation is
low-carbon economy in the city area. SFCE will modules at the company’s 300 MW manufac- part of the company’s strategy to increase its re-
integrate a number of green solutions for hospi- turing facilities in Bengbu, in Anhui province, newable energy generation capacity to 800 MW
tals, schools, public institutions, and large-scale and Jiangyin, in Jiangsu province, as well as for by 2025 and to minimize the impact of weak
commercial facilities and residential buildings the production of cadmium telluride (CdTe) so- coal prices. In early April, Reuters reported
in Luoyang’s New District and High-tech Devel- lar modules at the 100 MW factory in Chengdu, that Banpu already has interests in seven solar
opment Zone. These solutions will include solar in Sichuan province. Von Ardenne’s coating projects in Japan with a combined capacity of
power, ground source heat pumps, LED lighting systems deposit ultra-thin functional layers 54 MW.
and green transportation. Shunfeng acquired onto glass substrates in a so-called magne- South Korea-based screen and storage
Jiangsu, China-based solar manufacturer Wuxi tron sputtering process. These glass substrates system producer Samsung SDI, a subsid-
Suntech in 2014. are further processed into solar modules. The iary of the Samsung group, has announced
IHS subsidiary IHS Technology recently equipment will be delivered gradually and put it will start producing PV paste in Wuxi, in
presented its latest solar industry fore- into operation within the next 2 years. Jiangsu province, in June 2016. Samsung
casts, which predict that PV installations Chinese wafer manufacturer Comtec SDI has said it will start the operation at 40 tons
in China will fall by 80 percent in the third Solar Systems Group Ltd. has announced a month and that it intends to scale up pro-
quarter of 2016, triggering a sharp global that it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) duction to 100 tons a month in the future. The
slowdown in global demand and an over- with the shareholders of an unnamed Hong company has also stressed that it will be able to
supply, particularly for solar modules. The Kong-based company, which specializes expand its target markets to Southeast Asian
market slowdown is expected to be due to the in the development of large-scale PV proj- countries, such as Thailand, Malaysia and India,
FIT cut on June 30, 2016. IHS, however, expects ects in China. According to Comtec Solar, the as a result of the new production site.
the Chinese market to recover slightly in the project developer’s shareholders expressed their
fourth quarter, although this year’s growth will intention to sell their entire issued share capi- India
be limited by the government’s plans not to ex- tal. Based on the information provided by the Spanish solar developer Fotowatio Re-
ceed the 20 GW threshold. shareholders, their company will build approxi- newable Ventures (FRV) has secured a 25-
Furthermore, IHS reports that pricing mately 70 MW of solar projects in 2016 and will year power purchase agreement (PPA) for
throughout the module value chain has already develop another 300 MW of projects by 2018. a 100 MW solar park from the Solar Energy
started to drop considerably. In addition to the US solar developer SolarReserve LLC has Corporation of India (SECI), the government
slowdown in the domestic market in China, the signed a MOU with Chinese state-owned agency overseeing India’s Jawaharlal
ongoing expansion of production capacity is also company Chenua Group for the develop- Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).
putting pressure on pricing. The company said ment of concentrating solar power (CSP) The solar facility will be located in the Indian
that prices for Chinese tier 1 modules shipped projects with a combined capacity of 1,000 state of Andhra Pradesh and will begin deliver-
to China will range from $0.44 to $0.46 per W MW in China. According to SolarReserve, the ing power in 2017. The plant will sell its power
(excluding VAT) in the second half of 2016. IHS cooperation will leverage Chenhua’s expertise output to the local grid for $0.0667 per kWh.

14 July 2016

 Rolf Schulten / photon-pictures.com
New partner: Sungrow and ABB will cooperate on
developing and promoting new products.

Spanish renewable energy project de- veloper Sky Power Corp., Kerry Adler, rejected Kumar Sarmah, the company intends to finance
veloper Gamesa recently announced it had allegations that the company was withdraw- 30 percent of the total project investment with
completed 58 MW of solar power projects ing from the Indian solar market. According $400 million. Furthermore, Sarmah said that
in India in the first quarter of 2016. The proj- to Reuters, Adler said that the company was OCI Global will complete around 650 MW of
ects are located in the states of Tamil Nadu, seeking partners to develop its PV project pipe- PV projects this year.
Telangana and Uttarakhand. The company was line in India and that it was expanding its ac-
responsible for engineering and design, supply- tivities in seven states. Prior to this statement, Japan
ing inverters, and installing and commissioning Indian financial newspaper Economic Times Japanese CIGS thin-film module manu-
the power plants. had reported that SkyPower was planning to facturer Solar Frontier KK has commenced
Indian project developer Azure Power exit India’s PV market. However, SkyPower was commercial production at its 150 MW To-
India Pvt. has completed a 28 MW PV proj- awarded contracts to build 200 MW of PV proj- hoku plant in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
ect in the Indian state of Punjab. The 1,000 ects in the state of Telangana and 150 MW of According to the company, the new factory
crore INR ($148.6 million) solar park will sell projects in Madhya Pradesh in 2015. requires only two-thirds of the investment and
its power output to a local energy provider at a Chinese wafer, solar cell and PV mod- manpower per MW and one-third of the time to
tariff between 5.62 and 7.33 INR (between $0.08 ule manufacturer Shunfeng International manufacture a copper indium diselenide (CIS)
and $0.11). The company has not provided any (SFCE), Indian renewable energy company module compared to the company’s 900 MW
more details about the project. Azure Power ReNew Power and Chinese solar manu- Kunitomi plant in southern Japan. Solar Fron-
has a PV project portfolio of approximately 225 facturer Hareon Solar have completed a tier first announced its decision to build the To-
MW in Punjab. 72 MW solar power plant located between hoku plant in December 2013. After complet-
Chinese solar company Trina Solar Ltd. the districts of Kurnool and Prakasam, in ing construction in April 2015, the company
has announced that its cumulative ship- the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The PV began ramping up production lines. Modules
ments of solar modules to India have ex- plant, which relies on 234,161 solar modules produced at the manufacturing facility will be
ceeded 1 GW to date, with around 20 per- provided by Hareon, will sell its electricity out- available this summer in their home prefecture
cent market share in the region in 2015. put to local utility Southern Power Distribution of Miyagi, and then in other areas in Japan. So-
Trina Solar entered the Indian market at the Company Ltd. of Andhra Pradesh (APSPDCL) lar Frontier aims to provide solar panels with an
end of 2010. Helena Li, Trina’s regional head under a 25-year PPA. output of 180 W and beyond once the new plant
of the Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern region, Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd. reaches full production.
said: »As the upward trend in solar demand (TPREL), a subsidiary of Indian energy com- Juwi Shizen, a joint venture between
continues, India remains one of the most im- pany Tata Power, has announced it will German renewable energy company Juwi
portant markets for us on a global scale and is build two 50 MW solar plants in the Tumkur and Japan-based Shizen Energy Inc., has
an integral part of our expansion strategy in district of Karnataka, India. The project will completed construction on a 25 MW solar
South Asia. 1 GW is just a start.« be developed under Phase-Il Batch-Il Tranche-l park in the Tōhoku region of northern Ja-
Canadian solar developer SkyPower and of India’s solar program Jawaharlal Nehru Na- pan. The plant is located on the former Iwate
Chinese battery maker BYD will submit a tional Solar Mission (JNNSM). The plants will Hirono golf course and will sell its power output
joint bid in the upcoming tender for large- sell power to NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd., to local utility Tohoku Electric Power Co. Inc.
scale solar-plus-storage projects, accord- a unit of Indian state-owned electricity genera- The project, which was developed by X-Elio, is
ing to Livemint. The two companies entered tion company NTPC Ltd., under a 25-year PPA. the first large-scale PV plant built by Juwi in the
into a partnership to jointly develop solar parks The company has not disclosed any more de- region.
in India during the opening ceremony of the tails about the projects. SPI Solar Japan GK, a unit of US verti-
China-Canada Economic and Trade Coopera- OCI Global Ltd., a subsidiary of South Ko- cally integrated solar project developer
tion Conference. In the upcoming tender for rean polysilicon manufacturer and chemi- SPI Solar Inc., has formed a strategic
solar-plus-storage projects, the Indian govern- cal company OCI Co., is planning to install partnership with Taiwan-based energy
ment aims to allocate approximately 750 MW 1 GW of PV capacity in India by 2018. Ac- company General Energy Solutions Inc. to
of PV capacity. cording to Bloomberg, which cites a statement operate in the Japanese solar market. The
In mid-April, the CEO of Canadian solar de- from the unit’s chief investment officer, Pranab two companies will build solar power projects

July 2016 15
markets | asia-pacific | news

Up and running: The 32 MW Pacifico Energy Kumenan Mega Solar Project is located in the Okoyama Prefecture, southern Japan.

with a combined capacity of 20 MW in Japan a 300 MW solar park in Myanmar. Local 2015, Neo Solar Power had unveiled a plan to
between 2016 and 2017. SPI has not disclosed newspaper Myanmar Times reports that the increase its annual production capacity for solar
any additional details about the projects. two companies plan to invest $1 billion in the cells from 2.2 GW in 2015 to 2.5 GW. In order
General Electric has announced that its project, which would be located in the Ayeyar- to implement this plan, the company had said it
GE Energy Financial Services unit and Vir- wady region. The project, however, will only be would adjust the allocation of its domestic and
ginia Solar Group have commissioned the started once Won Toll and Kamrai Panit obtain overseas production capacities by shifting part
32 MW Pacifico Energy Kumenan Mega a PPA from the country’s Ministry of Electric- of the production in China and Malaysia.
Solar Project in Okoyama Prefecture, in ity and Energy. The first 50 MW phase should
southern Japan. The project was built by lo- be completed 6 months after the project starts,
cal engineering, procurement and construction while the remaining 250 MW is expected to be
(EPC) contractor Toyo Engineering Corp. and installed within a year. Won Toll plans to fi-
was completed a month ahead of schedule. The nance 20 percent of the project, while Kamrai
plant will sell power to local utility Chugoku Panit will provide funds for the remaining 80
Electric Company under a 20-year FIT con- percent.
tract. The project was financed by The Bank of
Tokyo–Mitsubishi UFJ and The Chugoku Bank Taiwan
Ltd. with ¥11 billion ($99.1 million) in non- Taiwan-based solar cell manufacturer
recourse project financing. Neo Solar Power Corp. (NSP) planned to
Japanese business group Sumitomo close a 60 MW solar cell production line at
Corp. is set to build a 59.9 MW PV plant its manufacturing facility in Hsinchu by the
in Minamisōma, in Fukushima Prefecture, end of May, according to The Taipei Times.
northern Japan. The plant will be owned by The article reports that the move is intended to
special purpose company Solar Power Mina- improve cost efficiency and that the company
misoma-Kashima Co. Ltd. (SPC) and will be plans to allocate solar cell module capacities to
installed by local EPC contractors Taisei Corp. Vietnam, where it is building a new factory that
and Toshiba. The ¥22 billion ($198.2 million) is expected to become operational by the end
project will be developed on a plot of land be- of 2016. The new facility will have an initial an-
longing to Minamisōma that was affected by nual capacity of 500 to 600 MW.
the Great East Japan Earthquake. The plant is The plan to build the factory in Vietnam was
scheduled to come online in March 2018. The revealed in February by Digitimes, which re-
financing for the project was provided by local ported that the best candidate to form a joint
bank Mizuho Bank. venture with Neo Solar Power for the project
was Vietnam-based solar company Vina So-
Myanmar lar. That company has an annual capacity of 1
Myanmar-based Won Toll and Thai com- GW and has recently become an OEM provider
pany Kamrai Panit are planning to build for Chinese solar manufacturers. In December Compilation Emiliano Bellini

16 July 2016

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markets | americas | news

Solar policy, regulatory and market from market research firm GTM Research. plants as it transitions to more renewables and
news across the Americas The company believes that PV system prices for natural gas. Between 2011 and mid-2016, AEP
residential, commercial and utility-scale PV will retired more than 7,200 MW of coal-fueled
The extension of the ITC has had a posi- drop by an additional 30 percent, 25 percent and generating capacity. The company said it aims
tive impact on the US market. In the first 20 percent, respectively, by 2020. And by 2020, to replace it with transmission, natural gas and
quarter alone, the country registered new residential, commercial and utility-scale mar- renewables, including solar and wind, as well
PV systems with a combined capacity of kets are likely to decrease by 20 to 30 percent, as energy storage.
only 1.67 GW, but more than 14 GW are respectively. This is the one of the key findings of Overland Contracting Inc. (OCI), a wholly
expected for the entire year. Argentina, GTM’s report. For the first half of this year, GTM owned subsidiary of engineering and con-
meanwhile, has announced its first renew- said average prices will be $3 in the residential struction company Black & Veatch, has
able energy auction, in which 300 MW of sector, $1.88 in the commercial arena and $1.26 announced it has formed a strategic alli-
installed PV power will be allocated, and in the »fixed-tilt« utility sector ($1.35 for »utility ance with Schletter Inc., a subsidiary of Ger-
Mexico is preparing its second auction for tracker«). Although this is a significant decrease man solar mounting system provider Schletter
large-scale solar and renewable projects. compared to the first half of last year, US prices GmbH. The two companies will partner up
Furthermore, El Salvador is set to host a 100 still remain higher than in many other PV mar- on the development of large-scale PV plants.
MW PV project and Chile keeps growing at kets, particularly in Europe and Asia. GTM is Schletter produces mounting systems for
a constant pace. only expecting a price level of $1 for utility-scale ground-mounted and rooftop PV systems used
PV in 2020. The company, however, stresses that in utility, commercial and residential solar ap-
prices for certain projects are already below this plications. The deal is set to combine Schletter’s
North America level in other markets today. production expertise with OCI’s engineering
Seven solar power plants with a com- and construction experience in order to pro-
US Federal bined capacity of 107 MW were connected vide clients with a turnkey solution for large-
In the first quarter of this year, the US to the grid in the US in April, up from 75 MW scale PV deployments. In late April, Schletter
registered new PV systems with a com- in the previous month. In the same month of announced a restructuring process in order to
bined capacity of 1,665 MW. According to 2015, 50 MW of large-scale solar power were consolidate its German business and to »con-
the US Solar Market Insight, Q2 2016 report connected to the grid in the US. According to tinue its international growth strategy.«
from GTM Research and the US Solar Energy the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s US tracking system manufacturer Array
Industries Association (SEIA), this new capac- (FERC) April Energy Infrastructure Update, the Technologies Inc. (ATI) is set to provide Ger-
ity accounted for 64 percent of all new electric US installed 1,045 MW of large-scale PV plants man renewable energy company BayWa
generating capacity brought online in the first in the first 4 months of this year. In the same pe- r.e. with 1 GW of solar trackers. BayWa r.e.
quarter of the year. Furthermore, the report re- riod of 2015, the newly installed capacity was 509 will use the devices for the development of large-
veals that the country’s cumulative PV capacity MW. The US had 16.66 GW of installed utility- scale PV projects across the US and Mexico. The
had reached 27.5 GW as of the end of March scale solar generating capacity as of the end of supply deal was closed during Green Power Con-
2016. The report also predicts that new instal- April. That represents 1.42 percent of total in- ference’s MIREC Week, an international confer-
lations will reach 14.5 GW this year. This would stalled US operating generating capacity. ence held in Mexico City. According to ATI, 70
be up 94 percent from 7.5 GW in 2015 and In its 2016 Corporate Accountability percent of BayWa’s projects in Mexico will source
down, however, from GTM’s previous forecast Report, US investor-owned electric utility local content. The projects will feature ATI’s Du-
of 16 GW. The utility-scale segment is expected American Electric Power (AEP) revealed raTrack HZ v3 single-axis tracker.
to drive this year’s growth with over 10 GW of that it intends to triple its solar and renew- Chinese solar manufacturer and project
new additions. able energy power plant portfolio over the developer ReneSola Ltd. has provided an
PV system prices are expected to drop by next two decades. The company’s strategy update on its project pipeline in the US. The
up to 30 percent in the US by 2020, according involves targeting the continued reduction company has stated that it is building107 MW
to the US Solar PV Price Brief H1 2016 report of carbon dioxide emissions from its power of solar projects in California, Massachusetts,
PSEG

Covering 5 percent of demand: PSEG’s 3.9 MW (DC) Lawrence Livermore Solar Center PV plant in San Francisco.

18 July 2016

Ups and downs of solar in Americas Minnesota and North Carolina. The construc-
tion of the solar projects located in North Caro-
lina and Massachusetts, which have a combined
capacity of 37 MW, is expected to commence in
AK the second half of 2016. Construction of the re-
Arctic Ocean maining 70 MW of solar projects in Minnesota
and California is planned for 2017.
The North American single-axis tracker
market increased by over 100 percent
year-on-year to reach $1.2 billion in 2015,
Baffin
according to the PV Structural Balance of
Bay System – North America report from US
market research company IHS Technology.
NT NU The company believes that the tracker market
YT could also grow a further 20 percent this year
Hudson
Bay to reach $1.4 billion. Furthermore, IHS reports
Canada that single-axis tracker shipments exceeded
Gulf of
Alaska
BC AB SK MB fixed-tilt shipments by over 2 GW last year,
NL
breaking the 5 GW shipment mark for the first
ON QC
time in 2015.
WA MT ND MN Ground-mount structural balance-of-system
United States NB PE
of America SD WI VT
ME
NS
(BOS) revenue in North America is projected to
OR ID NH
WY
IA
MI NY MA CT reach nearly $1.7 billion in 2016, led by single-
NE RI
PA axis tracker shipments in the US, where single-
NV
IL IN OH NJ
UT CO MD
KS DE
MO
KY
WV
VA axis trackers are expected to account for 80
CA
OK AR
TN NC percent of total ground-mount structural BOS
AZ NM SC
MS AL GA DC revenue in 2016. IHS experts also expect fixed-
LA
TX
Bermuda tilt demand to be further ousted by single-axis
FL
North Atlantic trackers in 2016: revenue for the product seg-
Ocean
Gulf of ment is expected to fall below $200 million.
Mexico Mexico
Cuba
Bahamas
French energy giant Engie has agreed
Cayman Dominican
Turks and Caicos Islands
British Virgin Islands
to acquire an 80-percent stake in Califor-
HI Islands
Haiti
Republic Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barthelemy
Cordrington
nia-based storage system provider Green
Belize Jamaica
Puerto Rico Antigua and Barbuda
Charge Networks. The financial details of the
US Virgin Islands Montserrat
Guatemala Honduras St. Kitts and Nevis Dominica

El Salvador
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Netherlands
St. Lucia deal, however, were not disclosed. According to
Barbados
Nicaragua
Caribbean Aruba
Sea
Antilles
Grenada
Trinidad and Tobago
Engie, Green Charge has developed a portfolio
North Pacific Costa Rica of 48 MWh of battery storage projects either
Ocean Panama Venezuela Guyana deployed or under construction across more
Suriname than 150 sites. »With Green Charge, Engie im-
Colombia French Guiana
mediately gains a strong position in the grow-
Equator
ing battery storage market in the US and fur-
Ecuador
ther develops its offering of load management
solutions at customer sites,« said Engie CEO
Isabelle Kocher.
Sungrow USA Corp., the US subsidiary
Brazil of Chinese inverter producer Sungrow
Peru
South Pacific Power Supply Co. Ltd., has announced it
Ocean
Bolivia will provide US renewable energy devel-
oper Swinerton Renewable Energy (SRE)
with 30 MW of its SG1000MW inverters. The
Paraguay company will use the devices for the Red Horse
Chile 3 solar project, which is located 80 miles east of
Tucson, Willicox county, in Arizona. The plant,
which is scheduled for completion in the second
Argentina
quarter of 2016, will deliver power to local util-
Uruguay
ity Tucson Electric Power. The financial terms
of the supply agreement were not disclosed.
South Atlantic
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has
Ocean announced it will award $10 million to 10
new projects through its Solar Training and
Education for Professionals (STEP) funding
program. The program is aimed at preparing
positive solar news Falkland Islands
service members of the Department of Defense
mixed or neutral solar news (DOD) for careers in the solar industry when
they leave active duty. Under the program, the
negative solar news
DOE has trained 1,100 certified solar instruc-

July 2016 19
markets | americas | sepa column

Utilities the unacknowledged catalysts for the first

million solar installations in the U.S.A.
The recent announcement that the U.S. had 20th century transitions. »Entrepreneurs ….
surpassed its millionth solar installation is convinced factory owners to adopt new ener-
considered a significant milestone. The Smart gy sources, experimented with processes that
Electric Power Alliance was part of a group of gave rise to new industries, and taught con-
solar organizations that marked the occasion sumers how to use coal, oil and electricity.«
with a social media campaign called »Million Switch »coal, oil and electricity« to elec-
Solar Strong.« tricity provided by renewables and other dis-
The campaign message was concise, tributed technologies, and the parallels to the
and a positive one: One million installations present become obvious.
make solar one of the fastest-growing energy Our one million solar installations, while
sources in the country, and have seen it go noteworthy, only represent a starting point
mainstream. in what may be the 21-century’s first energy

Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA)

Whether by coincidence or cosmic synergy, transition. Solar technology has been tried-
I happened to be reading a book – »Routes of and-tested, and is becoming increasingly com-
Power« by Christopher F. Jones – about energy petitive with fossil fuels, but only accounts for
transition in the United States. Although the about 1 percent of energy production in the
word »unprecedented« is often used to de- United States today.
scribe the revolution solar and other distrib- We are only just beginning to build the
uted technologies has unleashed across the infrastructure and feedback loops that will Julia Hamm, president and CEO of the US Smart
energy sector, U.S. history has, in fact, been lead to an increasing adoption of solar as a Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) writes a monthly
characterized and driven by successive energy core power source, and convince people that column on utilities and solar energy.
transitions, starting with our founding days as altering their century-old energy practices is
a nation. worthwhile.
From the use of wood as our primary fuel The second, critical phase of the transition
source, to coal and oil, and finally to electric- is transforming our existing one-way grid and
ity, each transition has had a unique technical distribution system into an interactive »smart«
and social impact. However, as Jones shows, grid that can cope with the integration of
each has followed a similar pattern, one which ever-increasing quantities of solar power, and
can also be seen in the current transition. other distributed technologies. Some analysts
The introduction of each new energy source, are predicting that it may only take two more
as Jones says, sets off a phase of market years to reach two million solar installations,
building, cost cutting and technical innova- in contrast to the 40-plus years since the first
tion, all aiming to make people familiar with rooftop solar panels were installed in the
the use of the new source of energy, to make it U.S.A. in 1973.
affordable and to identify more and more com- While sometimes publicly denounced as
mercial applications. Also integral to these anti-solar, utilities have been, and will contin-
changes are what Jones calls »landscapes of ue to be, the unacknowledged catalysts of the
intensification« – the physical and social infra- transition to renewable energies. Local utili-
structures that create positive feedback loops ties connected every one of those first million
to drive ongoing growth and innovation. solar installations to the grid. Utilities are also
»People had lived for centuries without taking a leading role in testing new technolo-
coal, oil and electricity, and they needed to be gies that will deliver the customer and grid
convinced that it was worthwhile to alter their solutions needed for us to get us to the next
practices,« Jones writes, referring to 19th and million solar installations and beyond. jh

20 July 2016

 sPower
One of many: A PV plant in the US (45 MW plant Sandstone Solar in Florence, Arizona) owned by US independent power producer sPower.

tors and provided hands-on solar workforce California Submarine Base (SUBASE) Kings Bay, and two
training to more than 30,000 students nation- PSEG Solar Source, a subsidiary of New more PV plants with a power of 30 MW each at
wide through its nation’s community colleges. Jersey investor-owned utility PSEG, has Fort Gordon and Fort Stewart.
Solar energy will cover 14 percent of US commissioned the 3.9 MW (DC) Lawrence
electricity demand by 2030 and 27 percent Livermore Solar Center PV plant in San Michigan
by 2050, according to a new report from Francisco, California, in the US. The installa- Michigan utility DTE Energy recently an-
the US DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National tion will cover 5 percent of the electricity needs nounced it has completed the first phase of
Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and National of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory a 45 MW solar park in Lapeer, Michigan.
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The (LLNL), a research center specializing in apply- The company said that the project will be com-
report stresses that the development of solar ing science and technology to national security. pleted by the end of 2016. The solar park con-
energy across the US will also result in enor- The installation, which has a 20-year power sists of a 30 MW PV plant located off Interstate
mous environmental and public health benefits. purchase agreement (PPA) with the Western 69 between Michigan Highway 24 and Lake
The experts from the two research institutes, in Area Power Administration, was built by Juwi Nepessing Road, and a 15 MW facility located
fact, believe that the total monetary value of Solar Inc. Including this new project, PSEG on Turrill Road between Michigan Highway
greenhouse gas and air pollution benefits based operates 13 solar facilities in nine states with a 24 and Clark Road. DTE Energy stated that the
on the 2050 high-penetration solar scenario total capacity of 152 MW. solar park, when completed, will be the largest
would amount to $400 billion. The SunShot Vi- US independent power producer sPower operating utility-owned PV solar array east of
sion Study also acknowledged, however, that has secured PPAs for three PV projects the Mississippi.
realizing the solar price and deployment targets from US power provider Pacific Gas and
would face a number of challenges. Electric Company (PG&E). The three proj- North Carolina
US solar installer Vivint Solar Inc. has ects will have a combined capacity of 60 MW The largest power utility in the US, Duke
secured a $75 million tax equity investment (AC) and will all be located in Lancaster, Cali- Energy, has announced that it has ener-
fund from an unnamed investor. The com- fornia. The three installations are scheduled for gized a 40 MW PV plant in North Carolina.
pany said the funds will be used to deploy 45 completion in 2017 and will sell power to PG&E The Elm City Solar Facility is located in Elm,
MW of residential PV systems for about 7,200 over a period of 20 years. Wilson County, and has an expected annual
customers across the US, without providing any output of 82,000 MWh. Including this plant,
further details. Georgia Duke Energy has 35 solar facilities across North
Spanish solar tracker provider Soltec Georgia Power, a subsidiary of US-based Carolina. The company has not revealed any ad-
has announced it will supply its SF Utility utility Southern Company, has completed ditional technical details about the project.
single-axis trackers for a 150 MW PV proj- construction on a 30 MW PV power plant at Furthermore, the North Carolina Utilities
ect under development by an undisclosed Fort Benning, near Columbus, Georgia. The Commission (NCUC) has approved two PV
developer in the US. The financial details of project is part of a 160 MW PV plant portfolio projects totaling 75.4 MW that Duke Energy
the supply agreement were not disclosed. The the company is developing for the US Depart- intends to build in North Carolina. The 60
company said it has redesigned the electronics ment of the Navy (DON). The $75 million proj- MW Monroe Solar Facility will be built by US
of its devices to adapt to the snow load, sub-zero ect relies on 134,000 modules provided by an developer Strata Solar and will be located in
temperatures and local flooding risks. No more unnamed manufacturer. Georgia Power is also Union County. The 15.4 MW Mocksville Solar
details were released relating to the project. building the 42 MW (DC) PV plant at Naval Facility will be built by Crowder Construction

July 2016 21
markets | americas | news

Italian flair: Enel Green Power’s Finis Terrae solar proj-

ect is located in Chile’s Antofagasta northern region.

Clean transport: Chiles president Michelle Bache-

let at the announcement by SunPower to provide San-

Enel S.p.A.
tiago’s subway with solar power.

and will be located in Davie County. Both proj- oped by Providencia Solar SA de CV, a unit of country’s first renewable energy tender.
ects will be owned and operated by the compa- French independent power producer Neoen. The tender will be held by public utility Cam-
ny’s subsidiary Duke Energy Carolinas. mesa. Selected projects will sell their power
Jamaica output to Argentina’s electricity market, the
Ohio Jamaica’s Office of Utilities Regulation MEM. Stakeholders can now comment on the
Korean chemical company LG Chem has (OUR) has selected Eight Rivers Energy draft until June 12.
installed a 7 MW/3 MWh battery for US en- Co. Ltd. (EREC) as the preferred bidder to Cammesa will allocate 1 GW of renewable
ergy provider S&C Electric Co. in Ohio. The build a 33.1 MW PV plant at Paradise Park, energy generation capacity in the tender. Of
storage system and a 4.2 MW PV system are in- Westmoreland, in Jamaica. Local newspaper this capacity, 300 MW will be allocated to PV,
stalled in the service territory of the Village of Jamaica Gleaner reports that the facility will sell while 600 MW will be assigned to wind power
Minster. LG Chem delivered an integrated bat- power to the local grid at a price of $0.0854 per plants. The remaining capacity will be allocated
tery solution, battery installation supervision kWh. The tender for the project was issued in to biomass (65 MW), small hydro (20 MW)
and commissioning to S&C, which integrated 2012. The article did not disclose any additional and biogas (15 MW). Argentina is planning to
the overall system with the electric grid and details about the project. install approximately 10 GW of new renewable
provided the power conversion system. energy power in the period from 2016 to 2025.
Mexico This would be enough to cover 20 percent of the
Pennsylvania The Mexican Secretary of Energy (SENER) country’s electricity demand.
General Electric plans to close its invert- has issued the first draft of the guidelines for
er factory in Pennsylvania, US, according the country’s second energy auction, which Brazil
to CNBC, citing an article from the Associ- will select PV and renewable energy proj- Brazil’s Metropolitan Company of Waters
ated Press. The company will lay off between ects and will be held in September. Projects and Energy (EMAE) is seeking expressions
250 and 380 employees working at the factory. selected through the auction must begin deliv- of interest from developers interested in
GE spokesman Paul Floren said that the closure ering power in 2019. SENER said that the basic building solar and renewable energy pow-
of the factory is due to lower than expected de- principles of the auction will remain the same as er stations. EMAE said it intends to cooperate
mand. General Electric acquired the manufac- in the first power auction, which was held in late in the construction of renewable energy proj-
turing facility from Converteam Group SAS in March. The final version of the auction guide- ects by providing sites for the installations and
2011 for $3.2 billion. lines will be published in June. financing.
The Mexican government contracted 4 TWh
Mexico, Central America and the of annual solar power and 1.4 TWh of wind Chile
Caribbean power in the first auction. PV projects selected Chile’s cumulative installed PV capacity
in the auction range in size from 18 to 500 MW reached 1,113 MW as of the end of April
El Salvador and will be located in the states of Guanajuato, 2016, according to the latest report from
Corporación Interamericana de Inver- Coahuila, Aguascalientes, Yucatán and Baja Chilean renewable energy research insti-
siones (CII), a member of the Inter-Ameri- California Sur. The PPAs for these projects will tute CIFES. The country added only 11 MW
can Development Bank (IDB) recently an- have to be signed by July 12, 2016 and the in- of new PV installations in April, down from 46
nounced it has arranged a credit facility for stallations will have to come online in 2018. The MW in March and 30 MW in April 2015. In the
a 100 MW solar power project in El Salva- auction ended with an average price of $40.50 first 4 months of this year, the newly installed
dor. The Providencia solar project will require per MWh for solar, while prices for wind aver- PV capacity was at 265 MW, up significantly
an investment of $151 million. CII’s Fondo aged $43.90. from 156 MW in the same period of 2015.
Climático Canadiense para el Sector Privado de The amount of PV capacity under construc-
las Américas will provide $87.7 million in funds South America tion in the country stood at 2,011 MW as of the
for the project, while the French Development end of April. At the end of the previous month,
Agency will provide an additional $30 million. Argentina projects under development totaled 2,082 MW.
CII has not specified which entity will provide Argentina’s Ministry of Energy and Min- Chile’s pipeline of approved PV projects, mean-
the remaining funds. The project will be devel- ing has published a draft document for the while, totaled 11.54 GW at the end of April. On

22 July 2016

 to n a ,
au io ng

at d
m n
i l d op r t r

n
g at di
bu rid we Fo

io
in er ra
g po
+
Sunpower Corporation

72
top of this, local environmental authorities are Chinese solar manufacturer JinkoSolar
still evaluating an additional 5.8 GW of pro- Holding Co. Ltd. intends to provide US-
posed PV projects. based independent power producer Pattern
Italian renewable energy company Enel Energy Group LP with 122 MW of modules.
Green Power SpA, a subsidiary of the Enel Pattern will use the modules for a large-scale
group, has completed construction on a PV plant it is building in the municipality of
160 MW solar facility in northern Chile. The Taltal, in the Antofagasta region of northern
Finis Terrae solar project was developed by the Chile. The financial details of the supply deal
company’s local subsidiary Enel Green Power were not disclosed.
Chile Ltda. in the Antofagasta region. EGP in- Pattern secured $205 million in financing for
vested approximately $270 million in the proj- the construction of the plant in August 2015. In
ect and financed it with its own funds. EGP has October 2014, Chilean mining company Los Pe-

h
already signed a long-term PPA with local util- lambres, a subsidiary of Antofagasta Minerals,
ity Endesa for the project. The company has not signed a 22-year PPA with Pattern to buy the
provided any more details about the plant. electricity output from the plant. According to
Spanish solar tracker provider Grupo Pattern, the project, which is the first phase of a
Clavijo has announced that it provided the broader PV project, is expected to be completed
trackers for the 3.6 MW Santa Julia project in the summer of 2016 and will cover approxi-
in Petorca, in the Chilean region of Val- mately 65 percent of Los Pelambres’ electricity
paraiso. The plant, which is owned by Dutch demand. According to the project proposal sub-
independent power producer Sonnedix, relies mitted to Chilean environmental authorities,
on Clavijo SP 160 single-row single-axis track- Pattern Chile’s Conejo solar project will require
ers. The company has not revealed the financial an investment of $819 million and will have a
details of the supply deal. capacity of 306 MW. This will be installed in
US solar producer and developer Sun- three phases: 130 MW, 46 MW and 130 MW.
Power Corp. has secured a PPA for the
supply of 300 GWh of clean solar energy
per year to the subway system of Santia-
Peru
Electricity produced by wind and solar Solar
Forecast
go, the capital city of Chile. The power will power systems connected to the electricity
be provided by the company’s 100 MW El Pelí- grid in Peru was able to cover 2.7 percent
cano Solar Project, which is located across the of the country’s demand in April, according
regions of Coquimbo and Atacama. The plant to the latest statistics released by Peru’s SOLARWEBSERVICES.CH
is scheduled to become operational by the end Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM). Wind
of 2017. SunPower has also secured a 15-year and solar produced 110 GWh, up 54 percent
PPA from Chilean power provider Colbún for compared to the same month in 2015. This in-
by the creators of Meteonorm
500 GWh of solar power per year. The power crease was due to the recent commissioning of
will be supplied by a 164 MW PV plant that a 97 MW wind power plant. Peru had reached a
SunPower is currently building in Chile. The cumulative installed grid-connected PV capac-
company said that it will build the project and ity of 96 MW at the end of 2015, according to
provide operations and maintenance once the the MEM.
installation is operational. SunPower also said
that its offer was selected through a tender
process, in which more than 13 companies
participated submitting more than 20 PPA al-
ternatives. Compilation Emiliano Bellini

July 2016 23
markets | europe | news

Solar policy, regulatory and market MW), Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (893 MW)
news in Europe Belarus and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (668 MW).
Chinese solar module manufacturer French energy giant EDF Group recently
Europe’s solar development remains weak Risen Energy Co. Ltd. has supplied 22 MW announced that its subsidiary EDF ENR,
compared to growth in the Americas and of its PV modules for a PV project currently which specializes in the development of
Asia. In Germany, where installed PV under development in Belarus. The plant is residential PV and renewable energy proj-
power is growing at very low levels, the being built by LSG Group, which specializes in ects, will begin offering PV solutions for
sector’s players seem more interested in the construction of power projects in central onsite consumption to French customers.
seeking new opportunities in the storage and eastern Europe. The financial details of the The new solutions will be offered under the
segment. France, meanwhile, keeps in- supply agreement were not disclosed. Mon Soleil & Moi banner. According to EDF,
stalling new PV systems – but the pace is consumers will be able to use the energy gen-
set by the government. French energy giant France erated by their own solar panels and have the
EDF is encouraging its clients to go solar France’s cumulative installed PV ca- option of storing some of it for use when they
with onsite consumption solutions, and in pacity reached 6,737 MW at the end of need it later. EDF said it is working on new bat-
Italy, oil company ENI has announced am- March 2016, according to new data from tery technologies in its R&D centers.
bitious solar plans. Moreover, despite re- the French General Commission on Sus-
cent feed-in tariff (FIT) cuts, the number of tainable Development (CGDD). The coun- Germany
large-scale PV projects announced in the try added 178 MW in the first quarter of this The German cabinet has released a new
UK has not decreased dramatically. year, up from 90 MW in the previous quarter draft version of the country’s future renew-
and down from 222 MW in the same period of able energy law (EEG). As for the new rules
2015. These figures, however, are provisional for solar, the government has decided to in-
Austria and the installed capacity for the first quarter clude rooftop PV projects in the country’s solar
Austria installed 160 MW of additional of 2016 is expected to increase in the next set auctions and to lower the size limit for all proj-
PV capacity in 2015. This is up slightly from of statistics. Of the PV systems added in the ects able to compete in the auctions from 1 MW
2014, when the country registered 159.3 MW latest quarter, 24 MW came from installations to 750 kW. Furthermore, the government has
of new solar systems. These figures, which were up to 36 kW in size, while 13 MW were from decided to raise the annual cap for capacity to
published by Austrian solar energy association systems between 36 and 100 kW. Only 19 MW allocate through its three annual auctions from
Photovoltaic Austria, are in accordance with of PV systems between 100 and 250 kW were 400 MW to just 600 MW. The German Solar
those from local consulting firm Kreuzer, Fis- installed in France in the period, but 121 MW Industry Association (BSW) has strongly criti-
cher & Partner, which has been covering the of PV plants over 250 kW were added. The cized the new draft, claiming that the new rules
country’s PV market over the past year. With a French mainland had 6,371 MW of installed PV will not be sufficient to revive the country’s
newly installed capacity of 18.9 W per capita, power at the end of March, while French over- solar industry. Moreover, the association said
Austria surpassed Germany last year with its seas territories had 366 MW. The regions with that the new regulation will not support those
18.1 W per capita for the first time. Austria’s the largest shares of solar capacity are Aquita- residential and commercial consumers who are
cumulative installed PV capacity reached 945 ine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes (1,650 MW), interested in building PV installations for onsite
MW at the end of December 2015. Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées (1,332 consumption.

Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE GmbH & Co. KG

Storage solutions: Production of energy storage systems at Daimler-subsidiary Deutsche Accumotive.

24 July 2016

Ups and downs of solar in Europe
1 Czech Republic
2 Austria
3 Slovakia
Iceland Finland 4 Slovenia
Sweden 5 Hungary
Norway Russia 6 Croatia
7 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Denmark
8 Serbia
Estonia 9 Montenegro
Latvia 10 Albania
United Kingdom
North Sea
Baltic
Sea Lithuania 11 Macedonia
Belarus 12 Malta
Ireland Kaliningrad
Netherlands Poland
Germany
Belgium 1 Ukraine
Luxembourg 3 Bulgaria
Switzerland 2 Moldova
5
France 4 6
Romania
7 8 Black Sea
Atlantic Georgia
Ocean
9 Armenia positive solar news
Spain Turkey
Portugal Italy Greece
11 mixed or neutral solar news
10 negative solar news
Mediterranean Cyprus
12 Sea

Germany registered new PV systems should install about 880 MW of new PV gen- grams, had a cumulative surplus of €4.33
with a combined capacity of 82.8 MW in eration capacity in full year 2016. This would billion ($4.8 billion) at the end of May.
April 2016, according to new figures from be down 39.3 percent from 2015, when the Th is was down 6.5 percent from the surplus
the German Federal Network Agency. This country installed 1.45 GW. This would also be of €4.63 billion ($5.2 billion) recorded at the
is down from 97.1 MW in April 2015 and up significantly less than the 2.4 to 2.6 GW annual end of the previous month. In March and
from 77.9 MW in April 2016. The newly in- target established by the country’s renewable February 2016, the surplus was €4.37 billion
stalled PV capacity for the first 4 months of this energy law. Germany’s cumulative installed PV and €4.19 billion, respectively. In May alone,
year was 294.1 MW. In the same period of 2015, capacity, meanwhile, reached about 39.99 GW revenue generated by the levy totaled €2.0
the country registered new PV systems with a at the end of April. billion ($2.2 billion), down from €2.2 billion
combined capacity of 416.1 MW. Taking the The German EEG levy account, which ($2.5 billion) in March and €2.1 billion ($2.3
current growth trend into account, Germany funds Germany’s renewable energy pro- billion) in March.

Chorus Clean Energy AG

Voluntary takeover: PV plant in Banna, Italy, owned by Chorus Clean Energy.

July 2016 25
markets | europe | SolarPower Europe column

The right electricity market design for solar

This year will see the launch of the European (ETS) to adequately price CO2. Without a CO2
Commission’s plan for an electricity market price that reflects the external effects of its
that will provide support for the development production, support for renewables is neces-
of renewable energies (RES) and will help find sary to pick up the slack.
solutions to the inherent inflexibility within the It is, however, time to reconsider the way
power system. It is more than apparent that support schemes have been structured. Giv-
we need an electricity system that is fit for en their reach, new forms of support systems
both the present and the future, and which will will be needed to keep the revolution going,
make a sustainable, functioning and secure and to make it more sustainable in the me-
power system possible with a large propor- dium term. For example, Market4RES has
tion of solar. SolarPower Europe is predicting established that the best support scheme is

European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA)

that by 2020, there could be 170 GW of solar market-dependent – its reach, and the actual
being generated in Europe’s electricity system structure in place. Importantly, when there is
– up from around 100 GW now. Of course, it is more risk, the cost of capital is higher and, at
also apparent that the energy market was not 9%, can represent 50% of the total cost of a
prepared for the huge increase in the share of solar installation. This means that different
renewable energy. This has led to renewables support systems are needed when the cost of
being curtailed, as governments considered capital is higher.
this the easiest solution to avoid oversupply. Finally, there is a need to increase the in-
However, this is not a practice that can be tegration of day-ahead markets in Europe. Dr. James Watson, CEO of SolarPower Europe.
maintained long into the future. This has been led by the Commission, with
Working together with the European Com- important roles being assigned to European
mission and renewable energy associations associations for regulators (ACER) and system
on a project called Market4RES, SolarPower operators (ENTSO-E) in developing regulations
Europe has presented a vision of what a for adoption by the EU. To facilitate the fur-
framework for a liberalized electricity market ther integration of renewables and reduce the
with a large proportion of renewables might costs for society, the focus should be placed on
look like. implementing integrated and well-functioning
The findings show that, firstly, now is intra-day markets with gate closure times that
clearly not the time to abolish financial in- are close to real-time operations, and with
centives for solar. The regulatory stimulation access to cross-border transmission capacity.
has resulted in nearly 30% of electricity be- Markets for ancillary services should also be
ing generated using renewables in 2015, with open to solar generation.
4% generated using solar, and as we look to If the findings our work led us to are, in fact,
increase the number of private investors in incorporated into the design of a new electric-
solar, we need a stable basis for these in- ity market, as the European Commission is
vestments. Moreover, while aiming for more currently considering, then we will have cre-
ambitious climate change targets, support for ated the right market environment for solar to
solar and renewables will be needed given grow and reach levels much higher than 170
the failure of the Emissions Trading System GW of installed capacity. jw

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SECONDSOL
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26 July 2016

 IZEN energy systems N.V.
Best year ever: The Netherlands had just under 1.5 GW of grid-connected PV power at the end of 2015.

German wind and PV plant operator invest a »double-digit million Euro amount« in 12,301 GWh last month, down 1.5% from 12,485
Capital Stage AG is planning to acquire the operation. The company said it sold 2,600 GWh in April 2015. These plants, however, still
Germany-based renewable energy com- units of its »SonnenBatterie« in the first quar- covered more than half of Italian electricity de-
pany Chorus Clean Energy AG through a ter of this year alone. Sonnen is distributing its mand in April 2016 – 52.2 percent. Total electric-
voluntary takeover offer. The two companies products in Germany and Austria through the ity demand in Italy decreased 2.2 percent year
have already signed an agreement for the trans- »SonnenCommunity,« an initiative which aims on year in April. In the first 4 months of 2016,
action, which was backed by Chorus’ largest to combine small renewable power generation PV systems installed in the country generated
shareholders. units and battery storage technology in a com- 6,168 GW, down 13.7 percent from 7,145 GWh
German automotive and technology puterized network. in the same period of 2015. That was enough to
company Daimler AG recently announced cover 6.5 percent of demand in the period. Italy
that it has set up Mercedes-Benz Energy Italy reached a cumulative installed PV capacity of
GmbH, a new subsidiary for the develop- Italian multinational gas and oil com- over 18.9 GW at the end of December 2015, ac-
ment and global sale of Mercedes-Benz pany ENI has announced a plan to install cording to provisional statistics released by Ital-
stationary energy storage solutions. The 420 MW of PV capacity worldwide. A local ian energy agency GSE.
move reflects the company’s intention to focus press agency reported that the company’s CEO,
on the stationary battery market. The produc- Claudio Descalzi, released an interview to Ital- Netherlands
tion of storage systems, however, will remain ian newspaper Corriere della Sera revealing The Netherlands registered a newly
the core expertise of Daimler’s wholly owned ENI’s new strategy in the field of renewables installed PV capacity of 437 MW in 2015,
subsidiary, Deutsche Accumotive GmbH & Co. and solar. The company is currently planning a according to the latest figures from Dutch
KG, which started delivery of domestic storage 50 MW PV project in Egypt and 150 MW proj- statistics authority Centraal Bureau voor
solutions for the German market in April last ect in Pakistan. Furthermore, Descalzi said that de Statistiek (CBS). This is the largest annual
year. According to the company’s press release, 200 MW of ground-mounted PV plants will be amount of new PV installations ever registered
»international expansion and collaboration installed Italy, where the company has already in the country. In 2014, new capacity came in
with further partners are particularly high on identified several sites in the regions of Sardinia, at 302 MW, while in 2013 and 2012 new instal-
the agenda.« Mercedes-Benz Energy will be Sicily, Calabria, Apulia, Liguria and Basilicata, lations reached 377 MW and 222 MW, respec-
based in Kamenz, in eastern Germany, where mostly located in the south of the country. tively. The country’s cumulative PV capacity
Deutsche Accumotive also has its headquarters, Electricity produced by PV systems cov- had reached 1,485 MW as of the end of Decem-
and will start off with 50 employees. The com- ered 9.3 percent of Italy’s total electricity ber 2015. In April 2016, the Dutch Ministry of
pany aims to increase its workforce to 100 by demand in April 2016, according to the lat- Infrastructure and the Environment reported
the end 2016. est numbers from Italian TSO Terna SpA. PV on its Klimaatmonitor website that the Neth-
GE Ventures, the venture capital divi- plants installed in the country produced 2,202 erlands’ cumulative PV capacity was at 1,525
sion of US energy and technology company GWh last month, down 17.6 percent from April MW.
General Electric (GE), has agreed to invest 2015. Solar was the second most prolific renew-
an undisclosed sum in German provider able energy source in April after hydroelectric Portugal
of lithium-ion-storage systems Sonnen power and before wind power, which covered Portugal registered 12 MW of new PV ca-
GmbH. According to Sonnen, GE Ventures 15.9 percent and 6.6 percent of total demand, pacity in February 2016, down from 12 MW
along with its existing investors has decided to respectively. Thermoelectric plants produced in the previous month and up from 2 MW in

July 2016 27
markets | europe | news

Capital Stage AG
A new addition: A 5 MW solar plant in Bedfordshire, in the UK, acquired by Capital Stage.

February 2015. According to the latest data from In May, Spain’s 4.67 GW of installed have been announced in southern Spain, de-
the Portuguese Directorate General for Geology PV capacity covered 4.1 percent of the spite the fact that the FIT scheme for renewable
and Energy, the country had 474 MW of cumula- country’s electricity demand, according energy projects has been closed to new appli-
tive installed PV capacity at the end of February to Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica de cants since the beginning of 2012. Of all of the
2016. Not all of that capacity, however, is cur- España. PV covered 3.3 percent of the coun- announced projects, however, none has been
rently installed or connected to the grid. Of the try’s electricity demand in April 2016 and 4.5 started to date.
cumulative PV capacity, 107 MW comes from percent in May 2015. In the first 5 months of
microgeneration PV systems (up to 250 kW) and this year, PV represented 2.9 percent of the Switzerland
72.5 MW from mini-generation PV systems (up country’s total electricity mix, while in the Swiss equipment manufacturer Meyer
to 3.68 kW). In the first 2 months of 2016, Portu- same period of 2014 PV covered 3 percent of Burger AG has announced it will provide
gal registered new PV systems with a combined demand. Meanwhile, solar thermal covered 2.7 Russian thin-film solar module producer
capacity of 26 MW. In the same period of 2015, percent of Spain’s electricity demand in May and project developer Hevel Solar LLC, a
the newly registered PV power was 12 MW. At and 1.5 percent in the first 5 months of 2016. joint venture of Russian industrial group
the end of February 2016, the country had more When added together, renewables jointly ac- Renova and nanotechnology provider Rus-
than 12.33 GW of installed renewable energy ca- counted for 55.1 percent of Spain’s electricity nano, with equipment for the qualification
pacity, and most of this capacity, however, comes mix in May. Red Eléctrica also revealed that of crystalline solar wafers, the coating and
from wind (5 GW) and hydropower generation Spain’s total electricity demand decreased by 1 performance measurement of heterojunc-
facilities (6 GW). percent year on year in May. tion cells, as well as SmartWire connec-
Spanish company Andaltia has an- tion technology for cells. According to the
Spain nounced it is set to invest €400 million company, the contract is worth around 22 mil-
Spanish solar manufacturer Aurinka ($445.6 million) in a 333 MW solar project lion CHF ($22.2 million). Meyer Burger will de-
plans to invest between €60 and €100 mil- in the Spanish municipality of Lorca, Mur- liver the systems – with an annual production
lion ($66.8 and $111.4 million) to acquire cia, in southern Spain. Local newspaper La capacity of 160 MW – in the first half of 2017.
the polysilicon manufacturing facility be- Verdad reports that the company expects to
longing to Spanish producer Silicio Solar, complete the project in 2020, with construction Turkey
which closed in 2012. According to local scheduled to start in 2018. The project was clas- Chinese solar manufacturer and devel-
newspaper La Tribuna de Ciudad Real, the com- sified as a »Strategic Project« by the government oper ReneSola Ltd. recently announced it
pany aims to resume production at the facility of the region of Murcia, where Lorca is located, will partner with Turkish solar company
in mid-2017. The new production site would in May 2013. The large-scale PV plant will be UCK Group on the development of several
use an undisclosed innovative technology that built in several phases. No FIT is expected for PV projects totaling 116 MW in Turkey. All
would ensure the feasibility of the project. The the plant; it will sell electricity at market prices of the plants will be built under the country’s
factory is expected to have an annual capacity and will compete directly with other generation FIT scheme and will be entitled to sell power at
of 3,000 MT. technologies. Several large-scale PV projects a rate of $134 per MWh. Under the terms of the

28 July 2016

agreement, UCK’s Berak Enerji unit will build the plants, while ReneSola
will supply modules and inverters for the projects. The facilities will be
owned by a 50/50 joint venture. The companies expect to complete the
first 70 MW of the projects by early 2017.
German system integrator Phoenix Solar has announced it will build a
10.2 MW solar park in Turkey. Phoenix Solar and its local partner com-
pany Asunim Yenilenebilir Enerji Teknolojileri İnş. Müh. San. Tic. Ltd.
Şti were awarded the contract to develop the project by Turkish conglom-
erate Akfen Renewable Energies. The facility will be built in Elazığ, in
eastern Turkey. The project will be financed by the European Bank for Re-
construction and Development (EBRD). According to Phoenix Solar, the
project is the first plant larger than 1 MW authorized by the Turkish gov-
ernment and, once completed, it will be the country’s largest solar power
plant. The project is scheduled to be completed in September 2016.

UK
The UK had 9,790 MW of cumulative installed PV capacity at the
end of April 2016, according to the latest figures from the UK De-
partment of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The country added
12 MW of new PV systems in April, down significantly from 332 MW
in March and 59 MW in April 2015. The numbers for March and April
2016 are provisional, however, and will be updated in next month’s sta-
tistics. The UK added 532 MW of new PV capacity in the first 4 months
of 2016. In the same period of last year, the country added new PV sys-
tems totaling 2,268 MW. Of the cumulative capacity installed at the end
of April, 1,074 MW is represented by PV plants with power exceeding
25 MW, while another 3,963 MW comes from PV plants ranging in size
from 5 to 25 MW. PV installations with a power between 50 kW and 5
MW have a combined capacity of 1,448 MW. Small PV systems up to 4
kW had reached an installed power of 2,414 MW as of the end of April,
while PV systems with a power range of 4 kW to 50 kW account for the
remaining capacity. The UK had 877,267 operational PV systems as of the
end of April 2016.
Irish energy company Gaelectric recently announced it has se-
cured planning approval to build a 4.9 MW solar park near Pome-
roy in County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland. The solar plant will be
adjacent to Gaelectric’s Inishative Wind Farm, which is currently under
construction and due to commence generation in 2016. The company has
not provided any further details on the project.
Germany-based renewable energy company BayWa r.e. has se-
cured a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for a 45 MW PV
project in the UK. The project, called Vine Farm, will be located near
Cambridge and will sell its power output to Nationwide Building Soci-
ety and SSE Energy Supply Ltd. The company has not provided any more
technical details about the project.
Chinese-Canadian solar manufacturer and developer Canadian
Solar Inc. has closed a £36.4 million ($53.2 million) project financ-
ing facility with German financial services provider BayernLB. The
company said it will use the funds to refinance a 40.2 MW PV plant port-
folio in the UK. Canadian Solar noted that the financing facility is non-
recourse project financing with a term of 17 years.
Capital Stage AG has acquired another solar park in the UK. The
company has bought a 5 MW solar plant in Bedfordshire, in southeastern
England, for £4.8 million ($7 million). Including this new plant, the com-
pany’s solar park portfolio in the UK has reached a combined capacity of
80 MW.

02:24 pm
SES 01
Stopped
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XS2 (Pri .
4:28 liquid is..
Cleaning
SPC 01
10:12 Less material
STH 01
38:26 Less material

Compilation Emiliano Bellini

nt 2)
XS2 (Pri .
45:01 Cleaning paper is..

July 2016 29
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business | manufacturing technology

Ultra-green energy
Research project Eco-Solar aims to make
the production of solar modules even
more environmentally friendly

Text: Anne Kreutzmann

O ur aim is that the solar cell industry should
utilize materials that would otherwise end
up on waste sites. We also want to make it pos-
Eco-Solar research project. The project, which
is EU-funded to the tune of €5.64 million ($6.2
million), will last 3 years and was launched in
sible to produce solar panels using less raw ma- October 2015. The group includes research in-

business
terials than we currently do.« That’s how project stitutes and companies from seven countries.
manager Martin Bellmann from Norwegian re- The roadmap for achieving the project’s goal
search institute Sintef describes the goal of the will be presented at the EU PVSEC at the end of

Highlights

• Irrespective of ecological valuable,

manufacturing products such as solar
modules requires certain resources.
• As long as solar factories continue
to use fossil fuels, it can take several
months or years for a PV system – de-
pending on the location – to make up
for the CO2 emissions caused during
Hans-Bernhard Huber / photon-pictures.com

production.
• An EU-funded project, called Eco-
Solar, now has the specific goal of
reducing the CO2 footprint by around
a quarter.

32 July 2016

 »Greener than Green«: Norway-based Innotech
Solar ASA presented a solar module made out of re-
paired solar cells at the Intersolar fair in 2011. How-
ever, demand for the slightly more expensive modules
was limited and the manufacturer had to file for insol-
vency in 2015.

Not rubbish: Eco-Solar project leader Martin Bell-

mann takes a look at a solar cell with a broken corner.

Thor Nielsen / SINTEF

June in Munich, Germany. More precisely, the a refill station for producing monocrystals in Recycling argon
team is aiming to cut the CO2 emissions created 2013. The process, called multipulling, allows
during the production of monocrystalline mod- for more than one ingot to be pulled from a cru- Argon gas is used as an inert gas during the
ules by 25 percent, and by 30 percent for multi- cible. The heat source used to melt the silicon is production of monocrystalline and multicrys-
crystalline modules. In addition, the goal is also not shut off after the first ingot is pulled and the talline silicon ingots, ensuring that the silicon
to cut waste materials by 10 percent, hence the crucible is not replaced with a new one. Using is not contaminated by other gasses, such as
title of Bellman’s presentation hinting at »40+ this method, the same crucible is refilled with oxygen, in the furnace. Afterward, the argon is
percent eco-efficiency gains.« silicon. As impurities from the molten silicon usually vented into the air. Ecologically speak-
The researchers have identified five areas in are transferred to the crucible, the second ingot ing, that’s not an issue, as argon is a natural part
which new processes and alternative produc- is likely to be of slightly lower quality. According of the atmosphere and is harmless. And argon
tion methods allow for potential savings. And to PV TePla, however, the effect is so minimal is also retrieved from the atmosphere to use for
that means savings in ecological terms, and that it doesn’t exceed any values critical for cell PV production purposes.
also with dramatic financial benefits. After all, production. And the benefits include 15 percent Therefore, recycling really does appear to
Bellmann states, the industry will only adopt lower operational costs, which are mostly made make sense: why should manufacturers vent
something if it makes economic sense. up of crucible savings. the gas into the air, and then exert a con-
There are also a number of ideas relating to siderable amount of effort into retrieving it
Reusing crucibles the production of multicrystalline ingots and again? Logically, the semiconductor indus-
reducing crucible usage. In 2011, for example, try already uses argon recycling methods as
Two well-known options for saving on mate- wafer manufacturer REC Wafer Norway AS – standard.
rials can be found in silicon ingot production: which is now insolvent – published a patent In the PV industry, however, recycling argon
the reuse of crucibles and recycling argon gas. describing the production of reusable crucibles. has yet to become commonplace. Founded in
The crucibles used to melt silicon feedstock Instead of using quartz, the crucibles were made 2008, GR2L Ltd. has introduced a groundbreak-
in order to produce ingots are disposed of after of silicon carbide strengthened using carbon ing product tailored to the needs of silicon ingot
usage – or they are destroyed to gain access to fibers. The trick was in the coating: it utilized and wafer manufacturers. The company name
the solidified silicon. As the crucibles are rather silicon and silicon nitride particles to make stands for »Gas Recovery & Recycle Limited«:
expensive, several research teams have been sure that the multicrystalline ingot could be ex- the UK-based company aims to commercialize
trying to reduce waste in this arena for quite tracted from the crucible after being heated to developments relating to noble gas recycling
a few years. One method has been outlined 1,200 ºC and then solidifying without the need made by the University of Cambridge. The re-
by manufacturer PVA TePla, which presented to destroy the container. cycling unit, Argono, was introduced at EU

Impact: reducing carbon footprint of a 60 cells solar panel

resource strategy current consumption Ecosolar consumption savings
monocrystaline 9.3 kg 0.46 kg 95 %
argon gas recycling
multicrystaline 0.43 kg 0.02 kg 95 %
crucibles re-using 0.5 kg 0.06 kg 88 %
Si kerfloss recycling 1.25 kg 0.88 kg 70 %
DI water recycling 200 l 14 l 93 %
aluminum process efficiency 2.5 kg 1 kg 60 %
silver process efficiency 8.5 g 2.9 g 66 %
process chemicals process efficiency 1.84 kg 0.2 kg 89 %

July 2016 33
business | manufacturing technology

More usage: PVA TePla introduced its refill sta-

tion for the production of monocrystals in 2013. The
multipulling process allows for more than one ingot to
GR2L; PVA Crystal Growing Systems GmbH

be pulled from a crucible.

Recycling noble gasses: UK-based company GR2L

recently sold the first one of its Argono recycling units
to a Taiwan-based wafer manufacturer. The unit cuts
argon consumption by 95 percent.

PVSEC back in 2011 in Hamburg, Germany. pleted modules as a result of reductions in pro- than 100 µm, diamond wires won’t go much be-
The manufacturer promises a recycling rate of duction costs across the board. low 140 µm (with 20 µm of that made up of the
95 percent and an amortization period of 2 to 3 Standard wire saws operate using slurry, cre- diamond layer). Kerf loss is higher, and recycling
years. The company’s first unit was sold to Tai- ating a mixture of silicon waste, silicon carbide is all the more profitable. Therefore, recycling is
wanese wafer manufacturer Gigastore Corp. at from the wire, glycol, water, and dust from the likely to become the norm.
the start of 2015. saw – and that means that recycling is rather
difficult. Specialized companies, such as Italy- Using low-quality solar cells
Recovery of kerf loss based Garbo Srl, offer these kinds of recycling
services. The company collects wafer manu- Another aspect related to material savings is
Another production step that Eco-Solar re- facturers’ used slurry and extracts pure silicon increasing the yield of cell production. During
searchers believe is ripe for material savings dust, which is then pressed into pellets. These the production process, a number of cells don’t
is wafer sawing. The process is associated with can then be used along with chunks of silicon manage to achieve the quality that the manu-
a lot of kerf loss. As wafers are getting thinner from Siemens reactors, improving the yield of facturer desires. These low-quality cells, which
and thinner, the ratio between silicon that actu- solar silicon immensely. often have small cracks, shunts or damaged
ally ends up as a wafer and silicon that falls vic- Recycling kerf loss is easier when dealing corners, don’t end up in modules. Rather, they
tim to the wire saw and becomes kerf loss – or with diamond wire saws: the saws are becoming are sold to manufacturers of small appliances –
waste – is now 50:50. more and more popular as they offer faster cut- mostly in Asia – and are used in solar-powered
There’s not an off-the-shelf solution as yet, ting speeds and do not require the use of slurry. garden lamps or toys, for example.
but recycling kerf loss is likely to bring financial However, its difficult to make the diamond wires However, there are certain problems, includ-
gain in spite of falling silicon prices. After all, any thinner than they currently are: while slurry- ing shunts, that can be fixed. German-Scandi-
silicon represents a 25-percent share of com- based processes use wires with a diameter of less navian module manufacturer Innotech Solar

34 July 2016
 Easy recycling: Apollon has developed a method
to easily separate the individual components of a
Ronald Frommann / photon-pictures.com; Apollon Solar

module at the end of its product life. One of the first

systems using these NICE modules can be found in
Lohfelden, Germany.

Recycling slurry: Italy-based Garbo has developed a

method to retrieve the silicon dust in the slurry. The
pellets that are recovered are then used to produce
wafers.

ASA (ITS) has developed a process in which the cells. And some of the work has already looking at a range of interesting ideas for which
poorly performing solar cells purchased from been done for them: France-based company there are a number of developments or even fin-
other manufacturers can be repaired. The com- Apollon Solar SAS, which is part of the team, ished products out there, but none has ever hit
pany detects shunts and then repairs them us- already produced that kind of module with its the big time. That may be the result of technical
ing a laser. According to ITS, the repaired cells NICE (New Industrial Cells Encapsulation) issues or high costs. The project will look at the
are just as good as new cells. Nevertheless, the technology over a decade ago (see PI 11/2004). reasons behind past failures and provide help
idea didn’t seem to make financial sense: the One module producer, French-Algerian Aures where needed. All of the companies required
company filed for insolvency in 2015. Solaire, already uses the technology and produces are already on board: the project team includes
Eco-Solar wants to give it another try, how- NICE modules. The 25 MW factory is located in the companies with innovative ideas that haven’t
ever. The aim is to develop a “solar cell doctor”, an industrial park in Aïn Yagout, close to the city managed a significant breakthrough yet, such as
according to project head Bellmann – a fully of Batna in northeast Algeria. NICE modules are Garbo or Apollon. And now they have received
automatic system to detect problems and carry produced without EVA or tedlar films, and even EU funding. So they can make green energy a
out repairs that cell manufacturers can integrate the electrical contacts don’t require soldering. little bit greener.
into their production lines. The modules are sealed using a vacuum between
the glass on the front and back side, so without
Optimize modules for recycling the need for lamination.

Another major part of the research project is Outlook

recycling whole modules. The team intends to
come up with a module design that simplifies Overall, Eco-Solar is a veritable smorgasbord
the reuse of individual components, especially of ideas – at least for the moment. The project is Further information Contacts page 79

July 2016 35
business | schletter | restructuring

Represented on all the important markets: A Schlet-

ter mounting system on the roof of a cattle breeding
company in China…

...in the 96-megawatt power plant Jasper in South

Africa…

...and in a façade array in New York.

Schletter GmbH
»Schletter is not about
to be reinvented«
Schletter GmbH is one of the largest mounting
system manufacturer in the world. Its management
has now announced it will be »restructuring«.

Text: Jochen Siemer

W e certainly count among the three big-
gest ones.« Hans Urban, the head of
the solar division at Schletter GmbH in Haag
up in the solar industry at the end of 2001. The
metalworking company founded in Upper Ba-
varia in 1968 was also developing and produc-
(Upper Bavaria) doesn’t have any exact figures ing mounting systems in the ten years prior to
at hand either – no-one does when it comes to this, however they were sold under the name of
the orders of magnitude among the providers the system supplier Donauer Solar.
of solar mounting systems. The manufacturers From these beginnings, it has become a com-
Highlights don’t even know for sure how much photovolta- pany that is active worldwide, with 1,300 em-
ic capacity has been installed on the supporting ployees at present and an annual sales revenue
• The mounting system manufacturer structures they themselves sell – and have no of around €300 million, which is largely gener-
Schletter is about to be restructured. idea at all what the competition might be able ated with photovoltaics. The remaining com-
Details were announced for mid-May, to boast. Because even if a provider did keep pany divisions – railway vehicle construction,
however nothing has been forthcom- exact records about every meter of mounting shipping equipment, trade fair construction, re-
ing to date. profile, this doesn’t mean he knows anything tail fittings and advertising technology – play a
• Job losses will be almost unavoidable, about the type of modules installed on it. And comparatively small role. The consequences are
even if sales revenue figures for the one kilowatt of thin-film photovoltaics requires therefore correspondingly grave when mount-
last few years are good. one-and-a-half times as much surface area as ing systems aren’t selling all that well. When the
• Schletter’s problem is not actually the one kilowatt of monocrystalline modules. German solar market was throttled to just 3.3
photovoltaic market itself, because it Urban does, however, manage to specify an gigawatts of newly installed capacity after ab-
is growing, and the company main- approximate value of the solar power capacity sorbing around seven gigawatts of new capacity
tains a worldwide presence. installed on Schletter systems all over the world per year in the three years before, Schletter had
after all: it could well be around 20 gigawatts. to reduce its workforce significantly: the com-
• What is likely is that it will increase its
Approximately eight percent of all solar mod- pany had around 1,000 employees in 2010, and
focus on the solar business, but that
ules installed worldwide to date have, accord- just 800 three years later. And the annual report
its home market will continue losing
ing to this estimate, been connected using a registered a net loss of €48.3 million after years
significance for its future strategy.
Schletter system since the name first turned of sales figures well in the black (see diagram).

36 July 2016

 Dirk Eusterbrock / photon-pictures.com
SolarReserve

However, the fact alone that both sales rev- This does not necessary mean that the system industry profits from the level that sys-
enue and the number of employees have since mounting system division alone will be the tem prices have reached in Japan, which leaves
increased significantly proves that Schletter has only one to be downsized in future. The steps considerably more calculation scope for the
managed to steer its way through the crisis in it is known to have taken before the current supporting structure than in other countries.
the German solar industry much better than restructuring announcement tend to suggest a However, this should not lead anyone astray
other companies. The attention it received was different direction: Schletter shut down its »P- to arrive at false conclusions: The level that
therefore correspondingly intense when the Charge« product series – charging stations for system prices have reached in the USA is also
company issued a press release on April 19 an- electric vehicles – effective as of December 31, significantly higher than in Europe, and in Ger-
nouncing a »restructuring concept«. 2015, with further development and sales hav- many in particular. However, production costs
ing been taken over by SSL Energie GmbH from are also higher, and there is also steep price
A lack of details Keilheim, a company specialized in storage and competition in the all-important large-scale
charging technology. Another, considerably system segment. This is also a reason why the
By mid-May, as the announcement claimed, smaller, product series, this being »PvSpin« Schletter company, which usually takes its inde-
more exact information would be forthcoming. solar module cleaning devices, was handed pendence and autonomy very seriously, recently
This has not materialized, and at the time of over to the small, specialist company »TopSo- joined forces with a large project company, the
going to press (June 15), no details were avail- larTeam« as of March 1. building contractor Overland Contracting Inc.
able. It is likely to take until the end of June, as (OCI).
Christoph Möller from Möller PR GmbH, the Sub-heading Which other measures will follow remains
Cologne-based agency entrusted with public to be seen. The company management, under-
relations by Schletter, believes. Both these product series are likely to be standably enough, has pointed out that while
This is far from a good situation for the considered areas which would be easy to keep the »basic agreement« of the financing banks
employees, because it can be safely assumed afloat with a mounting system division that has been obtained, the exact process first needs
that not all of them will be able to keep their boasts good sales and good returns, but are now to be drafted and, furthermore, the employees
jobs at Schletter – at least no-one has ever being forfeited. While Schletter is still generat- need to be informed before the general pub-
heard of a case in which a set of measures re- ing plenty of sales revenue with its mounting lic. PR specialist Möller is meanwhile trying
ferred to as a restructure by management and systems, it is becoming more and more difficult to make clear that the restructure will be kept
the financing banks was ever implemented to yield returns. within reasonable limits: »We’re not planning
without jobs cuts. The company has production facilities in to reinvent the Schletter company.«
Schletter justifies the necessity of a reorgani- the USA, Canada, China and South Africa, and
zation with the »severe downturn in the domes- maintains agencies in all important markets.
tic solar market since 2012.« This is surprising, One exception is India, where Schletter barely
because this downturn has already been going makes a mark. In China, in contrast, sales do
on for three-and-a-half years. According to its manage to reach relevant magnitudes, even
own statements, domestic sales of Schletter sys- though the most important segment in the
tems have shrunk by a good third. The total sys- huge Chinese market, this being power-plant-
tem capacity sold in Germany – and including scale solar parks, is barely accessible for inter-
the volume of mounting systems – has, at 1.47 national suppliers. When it comes to smaller,
gigawatts, nosedived by 80 percent since 2012. roof-mounted systems, Schletter is, in contrast,
»We have also gained new market shares,« perfectly happy with business.
Hans Urban confirms, however this obviously Sales are going really well, as the company
does not change anything about the fact that says, in Japan. Schletter, as a recognized, expe-
the domestic market has, in absolute figures, rienced provider with a broad product range, Further information
shrunk direly for Schletter as well. has a good status. Furthermore, the mounting Contacts page 79

July 2016 37
finance & economics | price index | inverters
X: 84,1 X: 98 Y: -6,3

Inverter prices to June 3 Offers on the German market for inverters up to 5 kW

22.8 euro cents/W 0.2 % -11.7 %
The PHOTON inverter price index exhibits a 100 euro cents/W
until: June 3, 2016 last month in the past 12 months

highly stable price trend for the month of May

90
– or more exactly, the period from May 6 to
June 3 – when compared to the month before. 80

When compared to the same period last year, 70

inverters have, however, become significantly 60
less expensive.
50
The category comprised of small inverters
with capacities up to five kilowatts exhibits a 40

trend value that only increased by 0.2 percent, 30

27.7
23.6 23.6 23.7 23.8 23.7 23.8 23.8 23.9 24.1 24.1 24.2 24.2 24.2 23.8 23.5 23.4 23.4 23.2 23.1 22.9 22.9 22.7 22.6 22.5 22.5 22.8
to 22.8 cents per watt. This value is, however, 20
11.7 percent lower than the 25.8 cents that were
10
determined as the typical price on the spot mar-
ket and wholesale market twelve months ago. 0

61 cents per watt was the highest price re- 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 5 12 19 26 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 3

Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
corded in the 5 kilowatt category, this being 2,133 data points, source: PHOTON International

for a Fronius Galvo 1.5-1. This type of device

usually sells for high prices, but can also be
purchased for 52 cents. Prices for the SB 1200
made by SMA were also in the same range. The
lowest spot market price for compact inverters X: 84,1 X: 98 Y: -6,3

was reported for the ABB (Power-One) UNO- Offers on the German market for inverters from 5 to 10 kW
2.0-I-OUTD-S (11 cents per watt).
15.7 euro cents/W -0.3 % -5.5 %
The trend value for inverters from 5 to 10 until: June 3, 2016 last month in the past 12 months
kilowatts in capacity amounted to 15.7 cents 100 euro cents/W

per watt on June 3, placing them 0.3 percent 90

lower than at the beginning of the period sur- 80
veyed and 5.5 percent lower than their level at
70
the same time last year. The price range in this
60
category spanned 9.2 cents to 29.2 cents per
watt. The highest-priced products on offer were 50
devices like the SMA STP 6000TL-20 (28 cents 40
per watt on price lists, 23 cents on the spot mar-
30
ket). The lowest price to be recorded was 9 cents
27.7
20
per watt for a Kaco Powador 7.8 TL3 INT. 16.6 16.7 16.7 16.8 16.7 16.7 16.7 16.7 16.6 16.6 16.6 16.5 16.5 16.3 16.2 16.1 16.0 15.9 15.9 15.8 15.8 15.7 15.7 15.7 15.6 15.7

The trend value for large inverters from 10 10

to 100 kilowatts of capacity fell by 1.7 percent 0
in the period surveyed, down to 10.2 cents per 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 5 12 19 26 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 3
watt. One year before, it was still 11.7 cents and Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
1,744 data points, source: PHOTON International
has therefore decreased by a sizable 12.6 per-
cent. The highest price recorded in this category
was just under 21 cents per watt for a SMA SMC
11000TLRP (on the spot market) or a Kaco
Powador 30.0 TL3 XL-INT (in wholesale). The X: 84,1 X: 98 Y: -6,3
lowest values were for a Solaredge SE 33,3k N2
(5 cents per watt on the spot market) and a Sun- Offers on the German market for inverters from 10 to 100 kW
grow SG40KTL (6 cents in wholesale). bk, js 10.2 euro cents/W -1.7 % -12.6 %
until: June 3, 2016 last month in the past 12 months
100 euro cents/W

90

80

70

60

50

40

30
27.7
20
11.6 11.5 11.5 11.4 11.3 11.2 11.1 11.0 10.9 10.9 10.9 10.9 11.0 10.8 10.7 10.7 10.6 10.5 10.5 10.4 10.5 10.4 10.3 10.2 10.2 10.2
10

0
11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 5 12 19 26 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 3
Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
2,947 data points, source: PHOTON International
price range of each week average prices price trend (with value of each week)

38 July 2016

Inverter prices for select models in Germany (May 2016*1)
Inverter manufacturer Model *2 Lowest price Highest price
Spot market prices
< 5 kW 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 €/W
ABB (Power-One) UNO-2.0-I-OUTD-S
Mastervolt Sunmaster XS 6500
Sunways Sunways AT 3000
Delta DE RPI H5A
Kostal PIKO 3.0
Solaredge SE 3000
SMA SB 3000TL-21
Bosch BPT-S 4
Danfoss DLX 2.0
Kaco blueplanet 3.0TL1M2
Fronius Symo 3.0-3-S
SMA SB 1200
≥ 5 - < 10 kW
Kaco Powador 7.8 TL3 INT
Danfoss FLX Pro 7
Sunways Sunways NT 10000
Huawei SUN2000-8KTL
Solaredge SE 7k
Kaco blueplanet 6.5 TL3
ABB (Power-One) TRIO-7.5-TL-OUTD-S
Fronius Symo 6.0-3-M
Kostal PIKO 7.0
Delta DE RPI M6A
SMA STP 7000TL-20
SMA STP 6000TL-20
≥ 10 - < 100 kW
Solaredge SE 33,3k N2
Huawei SUN2000-20KTL
Sungrow SG20KTL
Delta DE RPI M20A
Kaco Powador 18.0 TL3-INT
Mastervolt Sunmaster CS20TL
Sunways Sunways NT 12000
Fronius Symo 17.5-3-M
Kostal PIKO 17
SMA SMC 11000TLPR
Wholesalers‘ list prices
< 5 kW
Delta Solivia 5.0 EU G4 TR
Solaredge SE 5000
ABB (Power-One) PVI-4.2-TL-OUTD
Sungrow SG4KTL-EC
Kostal PIKO 4.6 NG
Kaco blueplanet 3.0 TL1 M2
SMA SB 2500TLST-21
SMA SB 1,5-1VL-40
Fronius Galvo 1.5-1
≥ 5 - < 10 kW
Delta Solivia 10.0 1TR3 E4
Solaredge SE 10k
Sungrow SG10KTL-EC
ABB (Power-One) PVI-10.0-TL-OUTD-S
Huawei SUN2000-8KTL
Fronius Symo 10.0-3-M
SMA STP 10000TL-20
Kostal PIKO 7.0 NG LBE
Kaco Powador 7.8 TL3
SMA STP 6000TL-20
≥ 10 - < 100 kW
Sungrow SG40KTL
Huawei SUN2000-33KTL
Solaredge SE 17k
ABB (Power-One) TRIO-27.6-TL-OUTD-S2-400
Delta Solivia 30 EU T4 TL
SMA STP 25000TL-30
Kostal PIKO 20 NG
source: PHOTON International

Fronius Symo light 20.0-3-M

Kaco Powador 30.0 TL3 XL-INT
*1 through June 3, 2016
*2 inverter designations are often listed imprecisely in spot market offers; all proposals are labeled as exactly as possible for this overview

July 2016 39
finance & economics | price index | modules
X: 84,1 X: 98 Y: -6,3

Module prices to June 3 Factory-gate c-Si module prices

59.3 ¢/W -0.4 % -14.7 %
The prices determined by PHOTON Consult- 120 ¢/W
until: June 3, 2016 last month in the past 12 months

ing for solar modules purchased ex-works 110

from selected, stock exchange-listed manu-
100
facturers fell by 0.4 percent to $0.593 over the
90
period surveyed for this edition – from May 6
80
to June 3. Compared to its level twelve months
70 65.8 65.7
ago ($0.695), the trend value has fallen by 14.7 65.7 65.7 65.7 65.7 65.6 65.5 65.4 65.3 64.9 64.5 64.0
63.5 62.9 62.4 61.8
61.3 60.7 60.2 59.7 59.5 59.4 59.3 59.2 59.3
60
percent.
50
As has meanwhile been a standard phenom-
40
enon for around two years now, these price
27.7 30
movements are not really affecting European
markets. The trend values for modules on the 20

German spot market and in wholesale recorded 10

in the PHOTON module price index are, de- 0

pending on the category, mostly only slightly 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 5 12 19 26 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 3
Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
below, and occasionally even higher than, their No. of data points: –; source: PHOTON Consulting, further information: www.photonconsulting.com/solarupdates

level last year. In any case, they have not fallen

as much as ex-works prices.
Monocrystalline modules typically cost
€0.676 ($0.756) per watt at the beginning of
June, which is 0.2 percent more than the month X: 84,1 X: 98 Y: -6,3

before and 0.5 percent more than one year ago. German spot market prices for monocrystalline modules
The price span between the least expensive
67.6 euro cents/W 0.2 % 0.5 %
product (€0.545 per watt) and the most expen- until: June 3, 2016 last month in the past 12 months
sive (€0.920) totaled a formidable 70 percent. 120 euro cents/W

Multicrystalline modules, with a trend value 110

of €0.539 ($0.603) – 0.4 percent less than the 100

month before and 8.8 percent less than the year 90

before – are considerably less expensive than 80
monocrystalline modules. This can be attribut- 70 68.9 68.4 68.2 67.7 67.4 67.2 67.0 67.0 67.1 67.1 67.2 67.3 67.3 67.3 67.3 67.4 67.4 67.4 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.6 67.6 67.6

ed to the falling demand for this technology and 60

the fact that there are a number of particularly 50
high-priced modules among the monocrystal- 40
line ones, which push the statistical values up-
27.7 30
wards. The prices for multicrystalline modules 20
spanned €0.450 to €0.768, a range that is, as a 10
percentage, as large as that for monocrystalline 0
modules, only in this case there are not as many 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 5 12 19 26 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 3
offers found at the upper end of the range and Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
1,291 data points, excl. Panasonic and SunPower; source: PHOTON International
they therefore have less impact on the trend
value.
The trend value for modules produced in Asia
(not including China) were 0.3 percent lower
than on May 6 and practically the same (down X: 84,1 X: 98 Y: -6,3
0.1 percent) as they were one year ago. Also
virtually unchanged are the prices for modules German spot market prices for multicrystalline modules
from China: at €0.569 ($0.636) per watt, they 53.9 euro cents/W -0.4 % -8.8 %
were 0.5 percent lower than the month before 120 euro cents/W
until: June 3, 2016 last month in the past 12 months

and 0.8 percent lower than the year before. 110

Solar modules from Europe, in contrast, have 100
meanwhile fallen significantly below the level 90
of the Asian competition, at €0.552 ($0.617), 80
which places the trend value 1.2 percent lower 70
than the month before and 12.0 percent lower
60
than one year ago.  bk, js 55.8 55.7 55.8 55.7 55.7 55.4 55.5 55.2 55.4 55.3 55.3 55.2 55.1 55.0 54.8 54.6 54.7 54.6 54.5 54.3 54.2 54.1 54.0 53.9 53.9 53.9
50
40
27.7 30
20
10
0
11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 5 12 19 26 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 3
Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
1,789 data points, source: PHOTON International
price range of each week average prices price trend (with value of each week)

40 July 2016

 X: 84,1 X: 98 Y: -6,3

German spot market prices for modules from Asia (excl. China)
53.9 euro cents/W -0.3 % -0.1 %
until: June 3, 2016 last month in the past 12 months
120 euro cents/W
110
100
90
80
70
65.6 65.5 65.2 65.0 64.9 64.6 64.4 64.1 64.1 64.0 63.8 63.8 63.7 63.5
63.2 62.9 63.0 62.9 62.9 62.7 62.9 62.9 62.7 62.5 62.6 62.7
60
50
40
27.7 30
20
10
0
11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 5 12 19 26 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 3
Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
1,216 data points, excl. Panasonic; source: PHOTON International

X: 84,1 X: 98 Y: -6,3

German spot market prices for modules from China

56.9 euro cents/W -0.5 % -0.8 %
until: June 3, 2016 last month in the past 12 months
120 euro cents/W
110
100
90
80
70
60 56.0 56.0 56.2 56.3 56.3 56.3 56.5 56.5 56.9 57.0 57.2 57.4 57.5 57.4 57.3 57.3 57.4 57.4 57.4 57.4 57.2 57.1 57.0 56.7 56.9 56.9
50
40
27.7 30
20
10
0
11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 5 12 19 26 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 3
Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
1,486 data points, source: PHOTON International

X: 84,1 X: 98 Y: -6,3

German spot market prices for modules from Europe

55.2 euro cents/W -1.2 % -12.0 %
120 euro cents/W
until: June 3, 2016 last month in the past 12 months
The price index as raw data
110
100 We publish our evaluation of the data col-
90 lected on module and inverter prices ac-
80
cording to origin and cell type every month
70
here. We now offer the database as an
excel table to any reader who wants to
60 59.6 59.4 59.2 58.9 58.7 58.2 57.8
57.2 57.1 56.9 56.8 56.8 56.9 56.5 56.4 56.0 56.0 55.9 55.9 55.8 55.8 55.9 55.6 55.2 55.2 55.2
make his or her own evaluations. The ta-
50
ble contains over 108,000 prices for mod-
40
27.7
ules and over 159,000 prices for inverters
30
retroactively for the last 4 years. The raw
20
data is also available with a monthly sub-
10
scription. We would be happy to send you
0
further information regarding terms of use
11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 5 12 19 26 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 3
Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun and pricing. If interested, please contact
436 data points, source: PHOTON International [email protected]
price range of each week average prices price trend (with value of each week)
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

July 2016 41
finance & economics | price index | modules

Module prices for select models in Germany (May 2016*1)

Module manufacturer Model*2 Lowest price Highest price
Spot market prices
Mono c-Si 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 €/W
AEG AS-M602 285W
Trina TSM-DC05A.08 275
BenQ Solar Green Triplex M 280W mono black
JA Solar JAM6-60-285
JA Solar JAM5-72 210/SI
Yingli Panda YL275C-30b
Trina TSM DC80 215 Quadmax
LG LG280S1C-B3 MonoX
LG LG MonoX NeoN2 315
BenQ Solar Sunforte PM096B00 333W black
Multi c-Si
Kingdom Solar 260W poly
Worldwide Energy (Amerisolar) 260W poly
China Sunergy (CSUN) 260W poly
Risen RSM-60-6-260P
NSP Solar D6P_260_B3A
Renesola 255W poly
AEG AS-P602 260W
Heckert Solar NeMo 260-60P
BenQ Solar Green Triplex P 260W
Yingli YL 260P-29b
Heckert Solar NeMo 260-60P
Sharp 260W poly
REC PE260
Trina TSM-PC05A 4BB
Sunrise 250W poly
JA Solar JAP6-60-270
REC REC 280 TP black frame
Wholesalers‘ list prices
Mono c-Si
Axitec AWP AC-260M/156-60S
Trina TSM-265 DC05A.052
Astronergy ASM6610M 315
Suntech Power STP275S-20/WEW 4BB
Canadian Solar CS6P-265-M-AB schwarz
SHG SC 285-72M allblack
Luxor-Solar ECO LINE M60/285
Axitec AWBP AC-270M/156-60S
Hyundai HiS-S260MG(BF)
JA Solar JAM6 60-290/PR
LG LG 315 N1C-G4.AVB
BenQ Solar BenQ Sunforte 327W
LG LG315N1C-G4
Multi c-Si
Zytech ZT-250P
SHG SC 255-60P
Axitec AWP AC-250P/156-60S
Jinko Solar JKM260W poly
Eurener PEPV250
Astronergy ASM6610P 245
Canadian Solar CS6P-265W
Heckert Solar NeMo 60P 250
BenQ Solar SunPrimo PM060PWO
Trina TSM-265 PC05A
JA Solar JAP6 60-270/4BB/RE
REC REC 275 TP
Luxor-Solar ECO SMART LINE 60/250
Solarwatt 60P 260W
Hyundai HiS-M230RF
Q-cells Q.Peak 280
Solarwatt 60P 260W
HIT
Panasonic VBH N240 SE10
thin film CdTe
Calyxo CX3 70W
First Solar FS390
thin film CIS
source: PHOTON International

Solar Frontier CIS SF 165-S

* through June 3, 2016
1

*2 module designations are often listed imprecisely in spot market offers; all proposals are labeled as exactly as possible for this overview

42 July 2016

finance & economics | photovoltaic stock index | ppvx

Two heavyweights less

June 3, 2016
Over the period surveyed for this issue – the five
weeks from April 29 to June 3 – the PHOTON 1,096
Photovoltaic Stock Index PPVX fell by 4.8 per-
Company Price 6/3/16 Since 1/1/16 Since 4/29/16 Country Industry
cent. The balance since the year began is, how-
8point3 Energy Partners LP 15,04 USD -6,8 % -4,6 % US Solar park operator
ever, far worse: the index is 28.6 percent below
Canadian Solar Inc. 17,51 USD -39,5 % -2,2 % CN Wafers, cells, modules
its level on January 1.
Capital Stage AG 6,09 EUR -22,8 % -9,8 % DE Solar park operator
Only five of the 30 shares listed in the index China Singyes Solar Tech. Hldg. Ltd. 2,74 HKD -50,8 % -4,2 % CN BIPV, power plants
managed to increase in value in 2016 at all. So Chorus Clean Energy AG 9,15 EUR 6,3 %* -1,9 % DE Solar park operator
far, the year has been going best for a newcomer Daqo New Energy Corp. 22,73 USD -7,9 %* -7,9 % CN Silicon, wafers
to the index, the Taiwanese Green Energy Tech- First Solar Inc. 49,25 USD -25,4 % -11,8 % US Thin-film modules, projects
nology Inc. Ltd. Its share, which has been listed GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. 1,11 HKD -4,3 % -4,3 % CN Silicon, wafers, projects
in the PPVX before, from 2009 to April 2015, Gintech Energy Corp. 23,85 TWD 0,6 %* 0,6 % TW Cells
Green Energy Technology Inc. Ltd. 21,20 TWD 9,8 %* 17,1 % TW Wafer, thin-film modules
has increased in value by just under ten percent
JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. 7,30 USD -24,7 % -15,8 % CN Wafers, cells, modules, systems
since it re-entered the index.
Jinko Solar Holding Co. Ltd. 21,07 USD -23,9 % -5,4 % CN Silicon, wafers, cells, modules
A comparison with the most severe loss suf- Meyer Burger Technology AG 3,67 CHF -38,5 % -16,6 % CH Production equipment
fered since the start of the year – a disastrous 71 Motech Industries Inc. 32,30 TWD -28,5 % 5,9 % TW Cells, modules, inverters
percent recorded by SPI Energy – demonstrates Neo Solar Power Corp. 17,20 TWD -29,2 % -0,6 % TW Cells, modules
why the PPVX is, overall, down. There are cur- REC Silicon ASA 1,78 NOK -0,6 % 0,7 % NO Silicon
rently two other companies, China Singyes So- Scatec Solar ASA 41,20 NOK 5,6 % 16,1 % NO Operator, projects
lar and TerraForm Global, that have lost more Shunfeng International Clean Energy Ltd. 1,19 HKD -39,6 % -19,0 % CN Wafers, cells, modules
than half of their share value since the start of Sino-American Silicon Products Inc. 35,45 TWD -24,2 % 3,1 % TW Wafers
SMA Solar Technology AG 49,41 EUR -4,5 % 6,8 % DE Inverters
the year.
SolarCity Corp. 21,64 USD -57,6 % -28,6 % US Installation, financing
The balance would be better had Advanced
Solaredge Technologies Ltd. 21,03 USD -25,3 % -21,5 % IL Power optimizers, inverters
Energy Industries Inc., still the best share of the SPI Energy Co., Ltd. 4,87 USD -71,0 % -3,0 % CN Projects, cables
year to date, not dropped out of the index on SunPower Corp. 16,45 USD -45,2 % -18,3 % US Cells, modules, systems/projects
May 27: After the US-American company an- SunRun Inc. 6,07 USD -48,4 % -23,0 % US Installation, financing
nounced its departure from the solar inverter TerraForm Global Inc. 2,76 USD -50,7 % -5,2 % US Solar park operator
business last July, it could no longer satisfy TerraForm Power Inc. 8,70 USD -30,8 % -18,5 % US Solar park operator
the minimum 50 percent share of photovolta- Trina Solar Ltd. 7,54 USD -31,6 % -22,7 % CN Wafers, cells, modules
United Photovoltaics Group Ltd. 0,60 HKD -20,0 % -10,4 % CN Cells, modules, projects
ics in overall turnover for the preceding twelve
Xinyi Solar Holdings Ltd. 3,27 HKD 3,2 % 6,5 % CN PV glass, power plants
months, required to remain in the index. Before
PPVX 1.096 -28,6 % -4,8 %
its departure, the share had recorded an in-
crease of 25.9 percent (up to May 20). * since since Mar. 25 (Chorus Clean Energy); Apr. 22 (Green Energy Technology); May 27 (Daqo New Energy, Gintech Energy)

The departure of the Chinese company,

which also occurred on May 27, was long over- The PPVX began on Aug. 1, 2001 with 1,000 points and is calculated Energy Corp., Gintech Energy Corp., Green Energy Technology Inc.
due. It was by far the weightiest share in the weekly using the Euro as its base currency. It includes 30 stocks listed Ltd., JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. , Jinko Solar Holding Co. Ltd., Motech
on the market in different countries. To be included in the PPVX, more Industries Inc., Neo Solar Power Corp., REC Silicon ASA, Scatec Solar
PPVX, as international analysts commented on than 50 percent of a company's sales in the previous year must have ASA, Sino-American Silicon Products Inc., Solaredge Technologies
come from PV products or services. Inc., United Photovoltaics Group Ltd.); between $906.9 million and
with blatant mistrust, up until May 2015. The $3.6 billion, 4 WP (8point3 Energy Partners LP, Canadian Solar Inc.,
paper then suffered a dramatic loss in share Index calculation: The PPVX is a weighted index so that the stocks of GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd., Meyer Burger Technology AG, Shunfeng
a few highly capitalized companies do not exert too much influence. It International Clean Energy Ltd., SMA Solar Technology AG, Solarcity
value on May 20, 2015, the circumstances of is divided into five classes, with different weighing points (WP) based Corp., SPI Energy Co., Ltd., Sunpower Corp., Sunrun Inc., Terraform
which still remain unexplained (PHOTON In- on the companies' market capitalizations. Global Inc., Terraform Power Inc., Trina Solar Ltd., Xinyi Solar Holdings
Ltd.); between $3.6 billion and $14.5 billion, 5 WP (First Solar Inc.); and
ternational 7/2015, p. 40) and within 70 min- PHOTON International’s PPVX applies up to 6 weighing points (WP) to more than $14.5 billion, 6 WP.
utes had nosedived by 57 percent from HKD company market caps, using Euro currency across the board. Based on
Apr. 29 exchange rates, a capitalization of less than $56.7 million has If the stock price of a company under- or overperforms the »critical«
$7.35 to HKD $3.19. The equivalent of around 1 WP; between $56.7 million and $226.7 million has 2 WP; between market capitalization level for a certain weighing class for a minimum
$226.7 million and $906.9 million, 3 WP (Capital Stage AG, China of four weeks, the weight factors shift because the company is
€17 billion in market capitalization was lost on Singyes Solar Techn. Hld. Ltd., Chorus Clean Energy AG, Daqo New down- or upgraded.
this one day before the Hong Kong Exchanges
and Clearing Ltd., or HKEx, suspended Han-
ergy Thin Film from trading. The suspension 120 %
has not been lifted since then, and Hanergy
was listed in the PPVX for the last time with 110 %
a price of US $0.22 following off-floor trading NYSE Arca Oil
in the USA. The rules of the index state that 100 %
PPVX
a share must be removed when an exchange
90 %
share price cannot be determined for one year.
Hanergy is,1,2 however, the first share for which
80 %
this time limit actually took effect.
Advanced Energy and Hanergy are, in turn,
70 %
being replaced by two familiar faces: The Tai-
wanese cell manufacturer Gintech Energy was 60 %
0,8 the end of 2007 until
listed in the PPVX from
the middle of 2015, while shares in the Chinese 50 %
silicon and wafer manufacturer Daqo New En-
ergy were already included in the index from 40 %
February 2014 until August 2015. 0,4 js Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May

July 2016 43
finance & economics | listed companies | quarterly results

Rolf Schulten / photon-pictures.com

From loss to profit: Inverter manufacturer SMA

SMA increases revenue and profits in EBIT improved year-on-year from CNY 230.0 Shipments for the quarter reached 912 MW.
first quarter million to CNY 573.6 million. Net result also This is up substantially from the same period of
increased from CNY 92.8 million in the first 2015, when the company shipped 547 MW. Net
German inverter manufacturer SMA Solar quarter of 2015 to CNY 361.2 million in the income grew slightly year-on-year from $26.0
Technology AG saw its revenue increase slightly latest quarter. The company said that the turn- million to $27.5 million. The company’s oper-
in the first quarter 2016. Over this period, the over growth was mainly due to the increase ating result turned around from a loss of $17.2
company registered a turnover of €253.8 mil- in shipments of solar modules and revenues million in the first quarter of 2015 to a profit of
lion ($289.1 million), up from €226.3 million in from electricity from the growing number and $56.7 million for last quarter.
the same quarter of 2016. Although the revenue capacity of projects. At the end of March, Hanwha Q Cells had an-
growth was moderate, the company was able Jinko shipped 1,600 MW of solar products nualized production capacities of 1,400 MW for
to turn an operating loss of €5.4 million in the during the first quarter, up 102.7% from the ingots, 900 MW for wafers, 4,850 MW for cells
first quarter of 2015 into an operating profit of same period in 2014, when it shipped 789 MW. and 4,800 MW for modules.
€25.3 million for the most recent quarter. SMA Furthermore, the company had completed 1,007 For the second quarter of 2016, Hanwha Q
shipped 2.1 GW of inverters during the first MW of PV projects as of Mar. 31, 2015. More- Cells expects to ship between 1,100 MW and
quarter. This is a 21.3% increase compared to over, the company reported that its in-house 1,150 MW of PV modules. For the full fiscal
the first quarter of last year, when the company annual silicon wafer, solar cell and solar module year, the company forecasts shipments to be
shipped 1.7 GW of inverters. production capacity at the end of March was 3.5 between 4.8 GW and 5.0 GW.
The company has confirmed its previous GW, 3 GW and 6 GW respectively.
outlook for full fiscal year 2016. SMA expects Looking forward, the company expects to
to generate revenue of €950 million to €1,050 ship between 1.6 GW and 1.7 GW in the second JA Solar sees profits decrease despite
million and its EBIT to reach between €80 mil- quarter of 2016. For the full year, the company growth in revenue and shipments
lion and €120 million. is forecasting module shipments will total be-
tween 6 GW and 6.5 GW. Chinese solar manufacturer JA Solar Holdings
Co. Ltd. saw its turnover and shipments in-
Jinko reports substantial increase in crease substantially in the first quarter of 2016.
revenue and shipments Hanwha Q Cells sees revenue and The company achieved revenue of CNY 3.5 bil-
shipments grow lion ($538.1 million) in the period, up 44.45%
Chinese solar manufacturer JinkoSolar Hold- from the same quarter of 2015. Total quarterly
ing Co. Ltd. reported a significant increase Chinese-German solar manufacturer Hanwha shipments reached 1,182.3 MW, up 52.4% from
in revenue and shipments for the first quar- Q Cells, part of Korea-based chemical company the same period a year earlier.
ter of 2016. Revenue for the period was CNY Hanwha Group, has registered a turnover of Operating profit totaled CNY 223.3 million
5.47 billion ($847.8 million), up 98.8% from $514.9 million in the first quarter of this year, ($34.6 million), compared to CNY 260.1 mil-
CNY 2.74 billion in the same quarter of 2015. up 54.4% from the same period a year ago. lion in the fourth quarter of 2015. Net profit

44 July 2016

 Chorus Clean Energy AG
Chorus Clean Energy AG solar project Riechelbach, Germany

also decreased year-on-year from CNY 184.9 it recorded for the same period last year. Op- year-on-year, from €8.0 million to €9.7 million.
million to CNY 158.0 million. erating profit was $44.8 million, up from $29.9 The company shipped 341 MW of PV prod-
For the second quarter of this year, JA Solar million in the first quarter of 2015. Net revenue ucts in the first quarter of this year, up from 210
is expecting to ship between 1,400 and 1,500 increased 46.4% year on year to reach $816.9 MW in the same period in 2015.
MW of PV products, while for full fiscal year, million, while total shipments increased 38.7% Looking forward, the company said it can
the company is reiterating its previous target year on year to 1,423 MW. confirm its previous outlook. SolarWorld ex-
shipment value of 5.2 to 5.5 GW. The company said the increase in revenue pects to increase its shipments and revenue by
and shipments was mainly driven by growing 20% compared to 2015. Last year, the company
demand from key geographical regions, par- shipped 1,159 MW of PV products and regis-
Chorus Clean Energy sees net loss ticularly China, India and the US. tered total revenue of €763 million.
increase as revenue decreases At the end of March, the company had an an-
nual production capacity of 2.3 GW for ingots,
German PV and wind power plant operator 1.8 GW for wafers, 4.3 GW for solar cells and Yingli exhibits a positive result for
Chorus Clean Energy achieved revenue of €10.1 5.6 GW for PV modules. Furthermore, Trina first time since 2011
million ($11.2 million) in the first quarter of had 967.3 MW of operational PV plants at the
2016, down from €12.4 million in the same pe- end of last quarter. Chinese solar company Yingli Green Energy
riod one year prior. The company said that the For the second quarter of 2016, Trina expects Holding Co. Ltd. has achieved positive results
fall in turnover was mainly attributable to lower to ship between 1.50 GW and 1.60 GW of PV for the first quarter of 2016 – for the first time
levels of power production. Revenue from the products. For the full year, the company still ex- since the third quarter of 2011.
solar power generation business, which was pects to ship 6.30 to 6.55 GW. Total net revenue was CNY 2,351.1 million
15% lower than in the first quarter of 2016, ($364.6 million), compared to CNY 2,110.0
reached €7.2 million. Net loss increased year- million in the fourth quarter of 2015. Mod-
on-year from €284,000 to €1.4 million.  SolarWorld reports 42% revenue ule shipments reached a volume of 508 MW,
growth for first quarter compared to 504.5 MW a year earlier. Gross
profit was CNY 469.3 million ($72.8 million),
Trina sees turnover and profits in- German solar manufacturer SolarWorld AG has significantly up from CNY 248.3 million in the
crease recorded a turnover of €212.6 ($241.4 million) fourth quarter of 2015. Operating income was
in the first quarter 2016. This result represents CNY 186.4 million ($28.9 million), compared
Chinese solar company Trina Solar Ltd. posted growth of 42% compared to the same period in to an operating loss of CNY 1,120.3 million
an increase in revenue and profits for the first 2015, when the company recorded sales totaling in the fourth quarter of 2015. Earnings before
quarter of 2016. The company achieved a quar- €149.0 million. Net loss, however, increased from interest, tax expenses, depreciation and amor-
terly net result of $26.6 million, a substantial €10.0 million in the first quarter of 2015 to €20.8 tization (EBITDA) totaled CNY 482.0 million
improvement over the $13.9 million net profit million for last quarter. Operating loss also grew ($74.8 million).

July 2016 45
finance & economics | listed companies | quarterly results

Rolf Schulten / photon-pictures.com

Solaredge CEO Guy Sella: pleased with another strong quarter

SolarEdge reports significant growth quarter, down from a net loss of $9.6 million in produced 3,405 MT of polysilicon, representing
in revenue and profits the first quarter of last year. full utilization of our manufacturing facilities,
SunPower President and CEO Tom Werner which surpassed our name plate capacity of
Israel-based solar power optimizer, inverter claims that these results reflect a solid imple- 12,150 MT per year.«
and monitoring solutions provider SolarEdge mentation of the company’s long term strategy Looking forward, the company expects to
Technologies Inc. saw revenue and profits in- thanks to both its power plant and distributed ship between 2,850 MT and 2,950 MT of poly-
crease significantly in the third quarter of fiscal generation segments. silicon and approximately 23.5 million to 24.0
year 2016, which ended March 31, 2016. The Looking forward, the company said it expects million pieces of wafer in the second quarter.
company achieved revenue of $125.2 million in to achieve revenue of $290 million to $340 mil-
the quarter, up 48.8% from $86.3 million in the lion and to deploy between 360 MW and 385
same period a year earlier. Operating income MW of PV capacity in the second quarter of Wacker’s polysilicon division posts 6
increased year-on-year from $9.7 million to this year. As for full fiscal year 2016, Sunpower percent revenue decline
$19.7 million. Net profit also improved from expects a turnover of $2.8 billion to $3.0 billion
$5.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2015 and an installed, new PV capacity ranging be- German chemical company Wacker Chemie
to $20.8 million in the latest quarter. Inverter tween 1.6 GW and 1.9 GW. AG recorded a 2 percent decrease in revenue
shipments for the quarter totaled 491 MW. in the first quarter of 2016. Total group rev-
»We are pleased with another strong quar- enue declined year-on-year from €1.33 mil-
ter despite challenging market conditions. Our Daqo posts profit and revenue in- lion ($1.51 million) to €1.31 million. The de-
growing customer base, continued diligent crease crease in turnover was mainly due the lower
execution, strong balance sheet and increased polysilicon and semiconductor prices and the
cash flow from operations, coupled with our Chinese polysilicon producer Daqo New Energy anticipated start-up costs of around €30 mil-
advanced technology, position us well moving Corp. recorded a substantial increase in revenue lion for the new polysilicon production site in
forward,« said Solaredge CEO Guy Sella. and shipments in the first quarter of 2015. The Charleston, US.
company achieved revenue of $57.7 million for The company’s polysilicon division registered
the quarter, compared to $41.9 million for the revenue of €273.1 million in the latest quarter,
SunPower reports strong profit fall same period in 2015. Consequently, Daqo saw down 6% from €289.4 million in the same pe-
its net income increase from $1.2 million in the riod one year earlier. Furthermore, the saw its
US module producer and project developer first quarter of last year to $8.3 million in the EBIDTA drop by over 50% to €39.4 million dur-
SunPower Corp. saw its net income and rev- latest quarter. Daqo’s operating result also im- ing the same period.
enue decline significantly in the first quarter of proved year on year from $4.1 million to $13.3 Looking forward, the company said it ex-
2015. Revenue dropped from $440.9 million for million. The company shipped 2,905 MT of pects both volumes and sales of its polysilicon
the first quarter of 2015 to $384.9 million in the polysilicon in the most recent quarter, up from business to rise in 2016. The company also said
most recent quarter. Meanwhile, the company 1,329.1 MT in the same period of 2015. Daqo that polysilicon prices for PV applications have
posted a net loss of $84.5 million in the same CEO Gongda Yao said: »Over the quarter, we exhibited an upward trend since February.

46 July 2016

 Wacker Chemie AG
Polysilicon production at the Wacker factory in Nünchritz, Germany

Enphase’s losses increase in the first ments, which set a range of 1,085 MW to 1,135 lion. Net results also improved year-on-year,
quarter MW. The operating profit declined year-on-year from a loss of $60.9 million to a profit of
from $78.2 million to $38.3 million. Net profit $170.5 million.
US micro-inverter manufacturer Enphase saw also dropped substantially from $61.7 million »Our first quarter results represent a very
its losses increase and revenue decrease slightly in the first quarter of 2015 to $23.7 million for strong start to 2016,« said First Solar CEO Jim
in the first quarter of 2016. The company at- last quarter. Hughes. »The sale of additional economic inter-
tained revenue of $64.1 million in the period, The company’s PV project pipeline had ests in our Stateline project further strength-
down from $86.6 million in the same period reached around 13.5 GW as of the end of March. ens our relationship with a strategic business
a year earlier. Loss from operations increased Of these projects, 2.1 GW is in a late stage of partner, and the transaction provides greater
from $5.5 million in the first quarter of last year development. flexibility for future drop-down acquisitions to
to $19.0 million in the most recent quarter. Net For the second quarter of 2016, Canadian So- 8point3.«
loss also increased year-on-year from $6.3 mil- lar forecasts module shipments to total between
lion to $18.7 million. approximately 1,200 MW and 1,250 MW, with
The company said it is continuing to imple- total revenue expected to total between $710 Vivint Solar sees losses increase in
ment its cost reduction roadmap in order to million and $760 million. For the full fiscal first quarter 2016
significantly drive down its production costs. year, the company expects shipments to range
Looking forward, Enphase said it expects to re- between 5.4 GW and 5.5 GW. Sales for fiscal US installer Vivint Solar Inc. saw its losses in-
cord revenue amounting to $76 million to $82 year 2016 are expected to reach between $3.0 crease considerably in the first quarter of 2016,
million in the second quarter of this year. billion to $3.2 billion. although it has almost doubled its revenue.
Total revenue for the latest quarter was $17.2
million. The company’s operating loss, how-
Canadian Solar reports decline in First Solar sees strong increase in ever, increased year-on-year from $48.6 million
revenue and profits revenue and profits to $94.6 million. Net loss also increased from
$59.9 million in the first quarter of 2015 to
Chinese-Canadian module manufacturer Cana- US solar manufacturer and developer First So- $105.5 million in the same period of this year.
dian Solar Inc. registered a fall in revenue and lar Inc. was able to almost double its revenue The company deployed approximately 55
profits in the first quarter 2016, despite ship- and to turn around from net losses to a profit in MW of PV capacity in the latest quarter, up
ments have exceeded the company’s reference the first quarter of 2016. 19% year-over-year. Incoming orders in-
value. First quarter revenue was $721.4 million, The company attained revenue of $848.4 creased 33% year-over-year to 66 MW. Cost
down 16.2% from $860.9 million in the first million in the latest quarter, up 80.8% from per watt was $3.34, up from $3.12 in the fourth
quarter of 2015. $469.2 million in the same period one year quarter of 2015 and up from $3.21 in the first
Total solar module shipments in the first earlier. As a result, operating results turned quarter of 2015. 
quarter of 2016 totaled 1,198 MW. This exceeds around, from a loss of $70.1 million in the
the company’s latest reference value for ship- first quarter of 2015 to a profit of $165.2 mil-

July 2016 47
finance & economics | listed companies | quarterly results

8point3 Energy Partners LP

8point3Energy power plant (108 MW Quinto Project,
California)

Solarcity sees losses increase despite from the same quarter in the previous year. ous quarter. The company saw its operating loss
strong revenue growth Revenue from the company’s production busi- increase year-on-year from $11.5 million to
ness reached CNY 807.4 million (+0.1%), while $37.5 million. Moreover, REC Silicon registered
US solar installer SolarCity saw its losses in- turnover from sales of electricity and other a net loss from continuing operations of $64.4
crease considerably in the first quarter of this businesses totaled CNY 8.8 million (-29.6%). million in the first quarter. In the same period
year, although it was able to almost double Total export shipments increased 12.0% year on of 2015, the company recorded a net profit of
its turnover. The company recorded revenue year from 275 MW in the first quarter of 2015 $46.7 million.
of $122.5 million in the period, up 82% from to 307.9 MW in the latest quarter.  Polysilicon sales decreased slightly year-on-
$67.4 million in the same quarter of 2015. The year from 4,135 MT to 3,857 MT, while poly-
operating loss, however, increased from $125.6 silicon production dropped from 3,979 MT in
million in the first quarter of last year to $213.5 Phoenix Solar sees revenue increase the first quarter of last year to 1,937 MT in the
million in the latest quarter. Net loss also in- most recent quarter. REC Silicon said that pro-
creased significantly year-on-year from $146.9 German system integrator Phoenix Solar AG duction volumes were impacted by the curtail-
million to $283.1 million. saw its revenue almost double in the first quar- ment of production capacity at the Moses Lake
In the first three quarters of this year, the ter of 2016. The company registered a turn- facility in the US.
company has installed 214MW of PV capacity, over of €9.9 million ($11.3 million) over the
while in the same months of 2015, the newly period. In the same quarter of last year, rev-
installed PV capacity totaled 153 MW. Further- enue was €4.9 million. Despite this growth in 3point8 Energy achieves revenue of
more, SolarCity has reported that its cumulative sales, the company’s operating loss improved $7.1 million in first quarter
installed PV capacity had reached 2,159 MW at only slightly year-on-year from €2.5 million to
the end of March 2016. €2.4 million. Net loss for the period was €3.54 US solar power plant operator 8point3 Energy
The company said that, despite the consid- million, up slightly from €3.52 million a year Partners LP, the yieldco vehicle of US solar
erable net loss registered in the quarter, its ex- earlier. manufacturers SunPower Corp. and First Solar
isting cash and cash equivalent totaled $361.7 Phoenix Solar said that in the same period Inc., registered revenue of $7.1 million and an
million, in addition to the funds available under of 2015, utilization of a warranty provision and operating loss of $1.2 million in the first quarter
its credit facilities and the funds available in its the reversal of contingencies reduced the cost of this year. A comparison with the same period
existing financing funds that can be drawn on of materials. Furthermore, the company noted one year earlier is not possible due to the fact
by using its asset monetization strategy, will be that the total volume of the weighted project that the company was founded in March 2015,
sufficient to meet its cash requirements for at pipeline decreased from 320 MW to 262 MW in and was not listed on the stock market until lat-
least the next 12 months. Solarcity also stressed the first quarter. er in June. The first fiscal quarter of 2016 ended
that its business still depends on the availability on Feb. 29, 2016.
of rebates, tax credits and other financial incen- The company currently owns and operates
tives and that the expiration, elimination or REC Silicon swings to first-quarter PV power plants with a combined capacity of
reduction of these incentives would adversely loss 435 MW in the US. Looking forward, the com-
impact its activities. pany said it expects to record revenue totaling
Norwegian polysilicon and silicon gas pro- $11 million to $12 million and an operating loss
ducer REC Silicon ASA recorded a loss in the of $0.5 million in the second quarter of current
Solargiga posts slight fall in turnover first quarter as revenue declined slightly. The fiscal year.
company achieved a turnover of $68.8 million
Chinese solar producer Solargiga Energy Hold- in the first quarter, down from $74.4 million in
ings Ltd. saw its revenue decrease slightly in the the same quarter of 2015. REC Silicon said the
first quarter of 2016, according to preliminary revenue drop was mainly attributable to lower
results. Turnover for the period totaled CNY sales volumes of multi-crystalline polysilicon
816.2 million ($126.0 million), down 0.3% bricks and silicon gas compared to the previ- Compilation Emiliano Bellini

48 July 2016

 Our sister puplications

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science & technology | perovskite

Perovskite research at the Swiss Center for Elec-

tronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) in Neuchâtel in
Switzerland: Here, the bottom cell made of crystalline
silicon is being prepared for a perovskite cell to be de-
posited on top.

Over 1,000 scientific papers were published on

the topic of perovskite solar cells last year. There could
already be twice as many this year.

science & technology

CSEM Centre Suisse d´Électronique et de Microtechnique

Text: Anne Kreutzmann

Full steam ahead

Perovskite solar cells are believed to offer a
Highlights great amount of promise, but the challenges
• Since PHOTON International reported the technology is facing are still considerable
on the status of research related to
perovskite solar cells around 2 years
ago, the efficiency levels of the best
lab cells have risen from 17.9 percent
to 22.1 percent.
• Tandem cells using silicon have al-
N o one really knows how many scientists
are currently involved in perovskite re-
search. Searching through the Scopus database,
team were made up of 10 members – as that is
the typical number of authors listed on each
scientific paper – and that each team publishes
ready exceeded the 25-percent mark. which plays host to quality-controlled scientific two papers a year, then between 5,700 (Scopus)
• However, there are still a lot of chal- articles, the keywords »perovskite« and »solar« and almost 10,000 (Lux Research) researchers
lenges to overcome before the fruits reveal exactly 1,144 publications in 2015, and were working in the perovskite field globally
of any research team’s labor become 717 in the first half of 2016 alone (see graph, in 2015. Both Scopus and Lux Research out-
available on the open market. p. 51). A study implemented by management lined three times as many publications in 2015
consultancy Lux Research Inc., thatwhich ced compared to the prior year, and figures are ex-
• It even remains to be seen whether a
out Internet-based research using the same pected to double in 2016 at the very least. As a
product will reach market readiness
keywords, came up with 1,975 publications for result, there are currently between 10,000 and
at all.
2015. If one were to assume that each research 20,000 researchers working in this rather new

50 July 2016

field within solar research. In addition, Lux Re-
search discovered that most of those are based Publications related to perovskite technology
in China.
The figure may seem huge, but is easily ex- 2,000 No. of documents
plained. For one thing, almost every research
1,800
group that was involved in researching organic 1,717
solar cells has switched over to perovskite tech-
1,600
nology. Traditional dye-sensitized cells are now
considered to be non-viable, but many of the 1,400
research results gained in this area can be ap-
Source: Christophe Ballif, publication number from »Scopus« (based on perovskite and solar key search)

plied to perovskite cells, as they are also made 1,200 1,144

of organic raw material (see box, p. 53).
In addition to that, it has been very easy to 1,000
gain access to grants for this area of research in
800
the last 2 to 3 years. That is due to the fact that
this field is non-application research, which
600
generally receives funding easily. In Germany,
the Federal Ministry of Education and Research 445
graphic: Thomas Schilling / PHOTON International

400
(BMBF) tnally provides funding for fields such 717
as perovskite research, as was the case for or- 200
ganic cells in the past. Research covering crys- 80
11 23 24
talline silicon solar cells, however, is funded by 0
the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Na- 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016*1
ture Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety *1 estimate based on search in June, 2016

(BMUB),has a much lower budget. And also

July 2016 51
science & technology | perovskite

Oxford Photovoltaics (2)

Henry Snaith, a pioneer of perovskite research: He
intends to bring commercial products to market in a
few years’ time with his company, Oxford PV Ltd.

A tandem cell from Oxford PV: It’s 4 inches in size,

which is much larger than most of the competition’s
products. However, Henry Snaith has not provided any
information on its efficiency. All he would say is: »On
smaller cells we repeatedly achieve around a 4 percent
absolute efficiency boost over the underlying silicon by
making the perovskite on silicon tandems.«

Record after record of 25.0 percent was only slightly surpassed 15 cells yet. The cells are so sensitive to light, tem-
years later. According to NREL’s stats, SunPower perature and especially moisture that the effi-
The hope being placed in perovskite and has held the record since 2014: it also recorded ciency levels published by researchers only last
its use in future solar cells is chiefly due to the 25.0 percent, but with fewer measurement inac- for a few days or weeks. Generally speaking,
speedy success that has been achieved in relation curacies. The record for silicon heterojunction there are no specs related to product life.
to boosting efficiency. The first ever perovskite cells (with an additional layer of amorphous And that’s exactly why a lot of researchers are
cell was only made a few years ago – in 2009 to silicon on a crystalline cell) is currently 25.6 working on this topic. The number of publica-
be exact – by Tsutomu Miyasaka’s research group percent, and that is held by Panasonic Corp. tions that deal with the stability of perovskite
and it showed an efficiency of 3.9 percent. Five That record was also achieved in 2014. And in cells has increased disproportionally. Lux Re-
years later, the US National Renewable Energy fact, no other solar cell technology around can search stated that 11 percent of all perovskite
Laboratory (NREL), which keeps a kind of Guin- keep up with the increasing efficiency levels of publications concentrated on the topic in 2014,
ness Book of Records on solar cell efficiencies, perovskite cells. and that rose to 16 percent last year.
added a whole new category just for perovskite However, there are no standard regulations Advancements haven’t only been limited
(see graph, p. 55). By that point, the record had in place as yet that apply to testing the efficiency to numbers, however; the quality of the tech-
already reached 14.1 percent, achieved by Mi- of perovskite cells. The cells exhibit hysterises, nology is progressing, too. There are cells that
chael Grätzel’s group at Ecole Polytechnique Fé- which means that the measurements alter de- have survived several thousands of hours under
dérale de Lausanne (EPFL). pending on whether testing took place from conditions that are apparently comparable to
Since that point, there has been an ongoing high to low voltage or in the opposite direc- IEC test standards for crystalline cells, claims
efficiency competition between EPFL and the tion. In order to achieve a reliable figure, testing Tom Aernouts from Belgium’s IMEC. Aernouts
Korean Research Institute of Chemical Technol- should take place at the maximum power point leads the organic PV group at IMEC, which is
ogy (KRICT), which holds the current record of (MPP) of the cell, which also has to be kept sta- now researching perovskite technology: »Under
22.1 percent. Perovskite tandem cells are not ble for a certain period of time. In serious pub- real operational conditions in the field, we are
listed in the NREL graph, however, as they are lications, this period of time is stated. At EPFL, starting to see the first cells that remain stable
found in the two-junction, non-concentrator for example, it’s 300 seconds. As a general rule, over the course of these tests, which have lasted
category – and the record here is 31.6 percent however, the published efficiency levels should a year so far.« He believes there are definitely
for a III-V-semiconductor tandem cell from be treated with caution. After all, it’s not pos- numerous options to increase the stability of
US-based company Alta Devices. That’s much sible to compare the figures to any others. perovskite cells: »You could make the inter-
higher than the current EPFL record of 25 mediate layers more stable, test other material
percent for a mechanically stacked perovskite- Long-term stability is the biggest compositions, or look at the operating condi-
silicon tandem cell (see interview, p. 56). challenge tions to allow a longer product life.« In order to
In order to truly understand the elation with protect the cell from moisture, it has to be well
which solar researchers around the world are Taking a closer look at the NREL statistics, encapsulated. Aernouts believes that perovskite
working on perovskite technology, it’s worth there’s a note relating to the perovskite cell cat- modules with a product life of 15 years will be
taking a look at the development of efficiency egory: »not stabilized.« The note doesn’t apply to available around 5 years from now.
levels for crystalline silicon solar cells with a any other solar cell technology. That is due to the Other perovskite researchers such as Henry
single pn junction. The record set by the Uni- lack of testing regulations and also because the Snaith from the University of Oxford are equal-
versity of New South Wales (UNSW) in 1999 word »stable« doesn’t really apply to perovskite ly optimistic. Snaith has also recorded success-

52 July 2016

 IMEC (2)

Tom Aernouts, perovskite researcher at Belgium’s

IMEC: His was one of the many groups to shift from
researching dye-sensitized cells to this new material.

Solar research at IMEC: On the left is one of its cur-

rent semitransparent perovskite cells, while a small
IBC module (with a crystalline silicon back-contact
cell) is pictured on the right. In the end, a combination
of these two technologies could be the winner.

ful durability tests over 1,000 hours under IEC

conditions. And he also states that good encap- Perowskite as a solar cell material
sulation will solve the moisture issues at hand,
explaining that other degradation mechanisms In contrast to cadmium telluride or copper- inorganic metal-halide compounds.
can be solved by using suitable materials. One indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) technology, The standard material for solar cells is
thing is clear: »It is absolutely critical to hit perovskite is not a particular compound, but CH3NH3PbI3 and possesses a band gap of
industry stability expectations, which are at rather a whole group of materials. Perovskites 1.56 electron volts. Silicon has a slightly
least 25 years at the moment and likely to push are compounds with a ABX3 structure. A is the smaller band gap of 1.12 electron volts and
out towards more then 35 years in the coming major cation (in the majority of cases, methyl chiefly converts the red range of the solar
years. Without this there is not prospect for a ammonium CH3NH3, or occasionally cesium, spectrum into electricity. If a perovskite
meaningful impact upon large scale electricity B is a minor cation (lead, or much less com- and silicon cell are combined, then the blue
generation.« However, those kinds of statements monly tin), and X is a halogen (iodine, chlorine range is intensified. That kind of tandem cell
seem to include a level of calculated optimism. or bromine). Perovskites are therefore organic- has an improved efficiency. ak
After all, organic PV has been tackling the same
stability issues as perovskite for decades, and
in spite of all efforts, the problem is yet to be
solved adequately.

Lead usage problematic?

Another serious problem may be the use of

lead. While crystalline silicon has seen the poi-
sonous heavy metal banished from metalliza-
tion pastes and soldering material, lead is still
an integral part of today’s standard perovskite
cells. While the lead could be replaced with
tin, cells using that material were negatively
impacted in terms of both efficiency and stabil-
ity – and that’s why tin perovskite technology is
hardly being researched at all.
Recently, perovskite researchers have left the
topic of lead on the sidelines – and that may
EMPA

have something to do with an article published

last September in the trade magazine Physical
Chemistry Letters. The article’s author, Doug- Perowskite cells, manufactured at the Swiss research institute EMPA: UV light and visible blue light are
las Fabini from the Materials Research Labo- absorbed, red light and IR irradiation pass through.
ratory at the University of California in Santa

July 2016 53
science & technology | perovskite

Events focusing on perovskite technology

Perovskite technology is now an inherent part
of the world’s three largest PV conferences: EU
PVSEC, the US-based IEEE PVSC and the Asian
PVSEC. A number of other special events, in-
cluding traditional conferences covering opto-
electronics and organic PV, dedicate a large
section to perovskite, and there are also new
events that specialize solely on this technol-
ogy. The next events due to take place are:

Alain Herzog / Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

June 28 – July 1, 2016
HOPV16
Swansea, UK
The International Conference on Hybrid and
Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV16) is being
hosted by the Spanish Society of Inorganic
and Nanomolecular Photovoltaic Energy
(SEFIN) and will take place at the University
of Swansea on the Welsh coast. One of those
responsible for the program is Henry Snaith, a Impressive attendance: The first International Conference on Perovskite Solar Cells and Optoelectronics took
pioneer in the field of perovskite research. The place in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2015 and attracted over 400 participants.
first day starts with a workshop concentrating
on printing organic solar cells, particularly per-
ovskite cells. This session is intended to aid SPIE Oct. 19-21, 2016
beginners in manufacturing simple cells. The phone +1/360/6-763290, fax -471445 Organic & Perovskite Solar Cells Confer-
other conference days retain a rather typical [email protected] ence
theoretical touch: the numerous presentations www.spie.org/opp/conferencedetails/OPVs Heraklion, Greece
will provide an excellent overview of the cur- The 3-day conference is being held at the
rent status of research. The entrance fee for Sept. 26-28, 2016 Technological Educational Institute of Crete,
scientists is €720 ($802), while company rep- PSCO-2016 and the nanotechnology research group under
resentatives pay €970 ($1,100). Genoa, Italy Emmanuel Kymakis is responsible for the pro-
SEFIN While most of the conferences that concentrate gram.
phone +34/964/30080 on perovskite technology are established events The keynote speakers are Mohammad
[email protected] covering organic PV, the International Confer- Khaja Nazeeruddin from EPFL in Lausanne ,
www.nanoge.org/HOPV16 ence on Perovskite Solar Cells and Optoelec- Switzerland, and Thuc-Quyen Nguyen from
tronics (PSCO) wasn’t established until 2015. the University of California, in the US. Both
Aug. 28 – Sept. 1, 2016 The first conference took place in Lausanne, are proven experts in the field of perovskite.
Organic Photovoltaics XVII Switzerland, and boasted 400 participants. The The other speakers had yet to be announced
San Diego, California, USA event, organized by perovskite experts Henry before going to press, though the program is
The International Society for Optics and Pho- Snaith (University of Oxford) and Mohammad outlined in a rudimentary manner. Attendees
tonics (SPIE) is holding its 17th conference on Khaja Nazeeruddin (EPFL), is supported by the will be charged €350 ($390) – or €250 ($279)
organic PV at the end of August. The main focus EU’s Dye Sensitized Solar Cells with Enhanced before July 31.
of the event is perovskite technology – around Stability (DESTINY) project. Estavromenos P.B. 1939
half of the presentations and posters are set The program is extensive and already out- phone +30/2810/3797-75, fax -9844
to concentrate on that topic. A comprehensive lined in detail on the organizer’s website. The [email protected]
program, including a short description of the entrance fee is €400 ($446), and the organizers http://solar.teicrete.gr ak
papers and information on the speakers, can al- can only be reached via email.
ready be found on the organizer’s website. The [email protected]
entrance fee is $1,000, or $850 until Aug. 12. www.psco-conference.org

Barbara, in the US, added up some simple sums – and so even an entire perovskite cell doesn’t Of course, it’s easier to assess those figures
and really brought things into perspective: a 1 need a lot of material. when there’s something with which to com-
m2 perovskite module has 420 mg of lead; at Fabini also calculated the amount of lead pare them: Fabini calculated how much lead
an efficiency of 20 percent, that’s 2.1 g per kW. that would end up polluting the environment pollution could occur if perovskite cells were
When lead was still included in the solder and per kWh of solar power produced if perovskite responsible for delivering the entire electricity
metallization pastes for crystalline silicon cells modules weren’t recycled. Based on the as- needs of the US: 160 tons per year. Shockingly,
– which is sometimes still the case – those fig- sumption that the product will be in usage for he estimates the amount of lead that pollutes
ures were up to 100 g per kW. The reason per- 25 years and has a 25-percent efficiency, as well the environment as a result of conventional
ovskite cells only use a small amount of lead as a yield of 1,750 kWh per kWh per year (typi- electricity generation in the US per year as
is the material’s outstanding absorption. A 1 cal for California), the amount of lead pollution 5,900 to 93,000 tons. The huge range is due to
µm thick layer is enough to produce electricity was calculated as 38 µg per kWh. the fact that Fabini didn’t have access to any

54 July 2016

 Record solar cell efficiencies
Efficiency (%)
NREL

US-based research institute National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been maintaining a database of record
efficiencies relating to different solar technologies for a number of years. At the start of 2013, perovskite cells appear for
the first time, listed with an efficiency of 14.1 percent. Just 3 years later, the record is 22.1 percent.

A race between EPFL and KRICT: The record figures confirmed by independently accredited test labs (as NREL only enters
those kinds of efficiency records into its database) for pure perovskite cells were all reported by two research institutes:
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) from Lausanne in Switzerland and the Korean Research Institute of Chemical
Technology (KRICT), which holds the current record.

official figures and was forced to estimate the Efficiency of up to 42 percent es. The backside electrodes of the perovskite
amount of lead involved in coal mining, for cell have to be highly transparent so that the
example. Official statistics are available for the With a stable share of 37 percent of all pub- range of light not used by the perovskite cell is
electronics industry, which accounts for 6,200 lications, the main focus of research activities able to reach the silicon cell below. Moreover,
tons of lead emissions. based on Lux statistics is clearly the topic of effi- researchers still have to find a way to deposit
Therefore, leading perovskite research- ciency. Pure perovskite cells are already achiev- perovskite cells onto the kind of textured sur-
ers are quite relaxed about the topic of lead: ing efficiencies of over 20 percent, and close to face that current silicon cells possess. At the
»There is currently no legislative barrier to de- 30 percent would be theoretically possible. That moment, the surface is polished to improve
ploying the sort of quantity of lead currently means that the physical limits of perovskite the deposition process, and that impacts on
in perovskite PV cells in PV modules,« says technology are the same as those that apply potential efficiency. With efficiency levels of
Henry Snaith: »The modules will require recy- to crystalline silicon solar cells with a single 22 percent for monolithic and 25 percent for
cling at the end of the life, but this is a rela- pn junction. The best crystalline cells are now mechanically stacked tandem cells, there’s still
tively simple process, and already established able to achieve over 25 percent, and 26 percent a very long way to go to reach Green’s 42 per-
for mainstream PV. Hence, in reality there ap- is just around the corner. And so the real ques- cent. Looking at the current pace of efficiency
pears to be very little risk of real contamina- tion is whether perovskite cells are cheaper to increases, it remains to be seen when progress
tion issues ever arising.« It remains to be seen produce with similar efficiencies and similar is going to get trickier.
whether perovskite cells using lead will fall stability levels. That is questionable, especially As a result, it’s hard to say what kind of role
under the RoHS Directive’s general lead ban in in light of the advances in crystalline silicon perovskite technology will be playing in a few
Europe. »Depending on the effects in relation production costs. years. There are several reasons to believe that
to the advantages, the RoHS can provide ex- Therefore, more and more researchers be- perovskite cells will be successful, whether as
ceptions for certain products containing lead. lieve that perovskite-silicon tandem cells are pure perovskite or combined with silicon. And
The situation simply remains unclear,« states the future. Using silicon as the bottom cell, the if it’s possible to produce solar power more
EPFL’s Christophe Ballif. theoretical limit according to calculations made cheaply using perovskite rather than traditional
The lack of interest in replacing lead – espe- by Martin Green, the head of solar research at technologies, then the thousands of researchers
cially as everything is going so well using the UNSW is 42.5 percent. There’s even one startup working on the topic will definitely find out.
material – is mirrored in the number of publi- – UK-based Oxford PV, cofounded by Henry
cations on the topic. In 2014, 40 papers – or 6 Snaith in 2010 – that is focusing solely on per-
percent – of all of the publications covered this ovskite tandem cells.
topic, and that only increased minimally to 7 However, combining perovskite and silicon Further information
percent in 2015. cells is associated with a number of challeng- Contacts page 79

July 2016 55
science & technology | perovskite | interview

»There are an unbelievable

amount of ideas«
Perovskite solar cells are believed to offer a great amount of promise,
but the challenges the technology is facing are still considerable

H undreds of research groups around the world are working on

perovskite cells – including the group headed up by Chris-
tophe Ballif at Switzerland-based EPFL and CSEM. Ballif, who
illumination. But these measurements were taken at room temperature
and in an inert atmosphere. It really does remain to be seen whether sci-
entists will be able to develop perovskite cells that last a long time, ideally
was awarded the Becquerel Prize at this year’s EU PVSEC for his 30 years or more in the field. And that’s why I always say that it’s research,
achievements in research focused on heterojunction cells, sees and it’s simply not certain whether we will even have an actual product at
enormous potential for tandem cells using perovskite technology. some point that can be taken to market.
However, there are a lot of challenges to overcome before these
cells become available on the market. And it even remains to be In your paper for the EU PVSEC, a product life of 300 seconds is out-
seen whether a product will reach market readiness at all. lined for your new record cell – a tandem cell with a perovskite cell
on top of a silicon cell, mechanically stacked – and a 24.4-percent
efficiency…
Perovskite solar cells contain lead. Do you see any possibility of
replacing this toxic heavy metal in the future? Oh, that’s not the product life; that’s the amount of time we keep the
solar cell at the maximum power point (MPP) for measurement purpos-
There are a number of approaches without lead, but we haven’t been es. That is related to another characteristic of perovskite. These cells can
able to achieve good efficiency levels. Perovskite cells without lead only exhibit distinct hysteresis (ed. note: the efficiency curve depends on the
achieve efficiencies of a few percent at the moment. There’s simply no ap- direction in which the IV-curve is measured). Results can differ depend-
proach that works well. However, the amount of lead in perovskite cells is ing on how the measurements are taken. Therefore, a number of groups
really very small, and really wouldn’t hinder launching the product. publish imprecise or false results. Correct results are only obtained by
keeping the cell in MPP mode during the measurement process. The 300
Long-term stability also seems to pose a serious problem. seconds therefore reflect the measurement period for our cells. Further-
more, we have been able to improve the efficiency of stacked tandem cells,
That’s quite right. Stability is a considerable challenge. A lot of the per- now achieving 25 percent. Maybe I’ll be able to announce 25.2 percent in
ovskite cells presented so far have been incredibly sensitive to moisture. Munich.
If they aren’t protected, they break – electronically speaking – within a
couple of weeks. Even if they are embedded well, it’s really only a matter And what are we looking at in terms of long-term stability for that
of days until the efficiency starts to drop significantly under illumination. cell?
However, in the last few months there have been a number of pleasing
developments; those include cells with a modified perovskite composi- We aren’t providing any specs relating to long-term stability for our
tion and an initial efficiency of 20 percent, where a stable efficiency of 17 perovskite cells. We have initially been concentrating on solving the issue
percent has been proven over a period of several hundreds of hours under of integrating into tandem cells.

56 July 2016

 CSEM Centre Suisse d´Électronique et de Microtechnique
Christophe Ballif is researching heterojunction cells and perovskite cells – and preferably a combination of both – at Switzerland-based EPFL and CSEM.

But you are working on improving it? A lot of researchers believe that the future of perovskite technology
is not really single-junction cells, but rather as the top cell in a sili-
In order to improve the product life, we are adopting two key ap- con tandem cell. What kind of efficiency do these cells offer?
proaches: one is replacing the organic electrodes – »Spiro OMeTAD« is
most commonly used here – with other organic or inorganic materials. As I said, a mechanically stacked tandem cell with four contacts
If, for example, graphite electrodes are used, the much more stable in- achieves around 25 percent based on a surface areas of 0.25 cm2. That is
termediate areas create much more stable cells – but that comes with far already pretty close to the world record efficiency for crystalline silicon
lower efficiencies. Results I have seen from other groups were around 13 cells, which is currently at 25.6 percent. We expect to surpass that level in
percent. the near future. Of course, the aim is to create a monolithic tandem cell,
Another approach concentrates on the absorber layer, typically using where the perovskite cell is deposited onto the silicon cell, eliminating the
methylammonium lead iodide. By adding other elements such as cesium mechanical separation. That kind of tandem cell would then have just two
or bromine, the material becomes more stable and less sensitive to mois- contacts. Perovskite materials are very well suited to monolithic composi-
ture. However, it is more complicated to manufacture. tions, as both of the cells’ currents harmonize well. As a result, the high
efficiency levels are retained as the losses that would result from differing
What kind of efficiency levels are we looking at at the moment? currents are avoided. We have already achieved more than 20 percent for
a surface area of more than 1 cm2. However, achieving those results for
Pure perovskite cells are currently achieving levels of up to 22 surface areas the size of industrial cells is still going to take a lot of work.
percent – however, that is based on very small surface areas of just a
few mm2. When looking at cells measuring 1 cm2, the efficiency is Can you utilize a regular cell for the silicon cell layer?
currently at 19.6 percent. That was achieved by other groups at EPFL.
These kinds of measurements stem from accredited measurement If the cells are mechanically stacked, then of course – and it’s easier to
labs, but they are not stable efficiencies. If they were to measure per- improve multicrystalline cells than monocrystalline ones, which already
ovskite cells the same way as is the case for amorphous silicon cells have a higher efficiency from the start. When looking at monolithic tan-
– meaning a preceding illumination lasting 1,000 hours at an ambi- dem cells, contact to the entire surface of the wafer is required, and so
ent temperature of 50 °C – then the efficiency levels would be much silicon heterojunction cells are ideal. So far, we’ve used polished wafers
lower. But no one actually does that. Or at least the results aren’t because it is easier to deposit perovskite onto even surfaces. However, the
published. At the moment, we are really at the stage where everyone optical system of the silicon cell isn’t that great, and that’s why we’ve only
measures however they want. It’s simply going to take a few years ended up at 21 percent so far – with a surface area of 5 x 5 mm2. The
until uniform measurement regulations are in place for perovskite current goal is to be able to use silicon cells with a textured surface – but
cells. And that’s the reason you always have to be careful when look- combining two technologies simply isn’t an easy task. Another challenge
ing at efficiency specs. is ensuring that enough light is reaching the silicon cell. For that to hap-

July 2016 57
science & technology | perovskite | interview

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Manufacturing perovskite cells at EPFL: Korean institute KRICT and the Swiss university are regularly stealing the efficiency record away from each other.

pen, the front and back side electrodes of the perovskite cell have to be as And that’s definitely a good thing for a completely new topic. If it really
transparent as possible. That is a key focus of our work. works, then you have to be in the game.

So that means that simple perovskite cells can’t really be used for The industry has to be in the game, too. What’s the status relating to
tandem cells as yet? perovskite research there?

If you take a look at the single-junction perovskite record cells, then All PV companies are keeping an eye on this area of research, and a
these use contact layers that are relatively nontransparent. If one were to number of them have already started to collaborate with universities or
use these for tandem cells, not enough infrared light would reach the sili- research centers. Manufacturers of standard solar cells are only keeping
con cell. That is one of the new findings we are presenting in Munich: we an eye on the topic though, and aren’t really taking an active role. At the
achieve a good efficiency level because we allow the maximum amount of moment, there are only a few companies that are working toward bring-
light in the infrared range to reach the crystalline cell. ing this technology to market. The most well-known of those is probably
Oxford PV, a start-up within the Henry Snaith group. And then there’s
During the last few years, the amount of contributions at confer- Dyesol, which used to make dye-sensitized cells and has now changed
ences that focus on perovskite has grown tremendously. Do you its focus to perovskite technology. But that’s all still in the research and
consider that to be a good sign? development mode.

There are good and bad aspects. There are hundreds of groups that Would you hazard a guess at what the status of perovskite technol-
have been working on dye-sensitized cells and polymer cells up until now. ogy will be in 5 years?
Most of those have switched to perovskite research. That means that there
is a huge number of ideas. All of the chemistry labs working on the subject No, I wouldn’t like to speculate.
are developing a lot of materials, tests and trials. That’s good and exciting.
However, the overall quality of publications is not particularly good. There Thank you for the interview.
are a lot of results that should be approached with caution. There was a lot
of euphoria in the beginning when everyone was thinking: »Super, super,
super!« That kind of phase requires caution. And even though there are a
lot of researchers looking for a solution to the problems at hand, the task
of creating a real product out of a lab cell remains a tough one.

Is it easy to access research funds for perovskite research?

Yes, it has been easy in the last few years. It has been particularly easy
in the last 3 or 4 years in Switzerland and Germany, and internationally. Interview Anne Kreutzmann

58 July 2016

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science & technology | yield prognoses

Text: Anne Kreutzmann

The perfect module

for every site
The use of lasers is allowing the
Highlights
German PTB to measure solar cells
• The German National Metrology Insti-
tute (Physikalisch-Technische Bunde- with much higher precision
sanstalt, PTB) is supplying calibrated
reference solar cells to research
institutes and companies worldwide,
which can be used to identify all pa-
rameters of a solar cell necessary to
forecast the yield at any given site.
S olar modules are no longer a »commodity«
and have ceased to be standardized prod-
ucts made worldwide with the same charac-
are installed in, and the type of use planned
for the modules: »Modules are no longer in-
terchangeable standardized products. It’s time
• The precision involved is new: By teristics and similar quality by their suppliers. to diversify the product.« Operators of arrays
using lasers, the measurement uncer- Or at least this is the stance assumed by Gaetan should not use exactly the same type of mod-
tainty is, according to the PTB, now Masson, co-founder of the Belgian Becquerel ule in desert regions as they would in temperate
less than 0.4 percent. Institute. In his presentations about worldwide zones or humid-tropical regions.
• To ensure this development can unfold market development in photovoltaics – as the This is, however, easier said than done. The
its full potential, the manufacturers one given at the EU PVSEC Conference at the actual problem is that the specifications that
of simulation software now need to end of June in Munich – the analyst repeatedly the manufacturers currently print on data
modify their programs. underscored the fact that markets need differ- sheets essentially only cover the rated output
ent modules according to the climate zone they and the current-voltage curve at different lev-

60 July 2016

 Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)
The light from the laser is not directed at the solar
cell as a spot beam, but rather dispersed homogenous-
ly. While this reduces the intensity, it remains high
enough to improve the precision of the measurement
significantly compared to classic methods.

els of irradiation under standardized test con- as Wilhelm Warta from the solar cell calibration bine the characteristics of the solar cell with
ditions. These data are used as a basis to distin- laboratory at the ISE (ISE CalLab) confirms. If the weather data and see which module is best
guish different technologies, such as thin-film information about the specific irradiation con- suited to the respective climate zone,« as Win-
modules and crystalline silicon modules from ditions for the planned site are available, then ter, who heads the project, says.
each other – the former are considered better the yield can be forecast to a previously unat- The actual weather in the future is the big
for very hot regions due to their low tempera- tained precision – at least when the developers unknown that is calculated into the yield prog-
ture coefficients. For a strict differentiation of simulation software can figure out how to nosis. »There’s no way to influence this anyway,
of the numerous monocrystalline and mul- have the software evaluate this volume of data. while you are able to choose the type of solar
ticrystalline silicon modules available on the If the electrical parameters of a solar cell have cell or module,« Winter say. »What is needed for
market, these specifications are simply not been established for all operating conditions, this is a rating for the climate zone selected. This
detailed enough. then a second step is needed to »multiply the is possible at much higher levels of precision, as
The German National Metrology Institute weather into the equation,« as Stefan Winter, the uncertainty about the future weather can be
(PTB) in Braunschweig intends to provide a the head of the solar cell working group at the minimized when it comes to the yield ratio be-
solution for this, and is offering extensive mea- PTB, puts it. There is an entire research project tween two different, selected types of solar cell.«
surements of solar cells in relation to the cell that is devoting its energy to the challenge of In the past, comparisons like this were conduct-
temperature (between 15 and 75 degrees Cel- producing a serviceable yield prognosis from ed by measuring modules made by different
sius), irradiance (between zero and 1,500 watts the large number of measured values. A dozen manufacturers in open-field trials for one year
per square meter) and – this is what is new – European research institutes have been work- or more, and then analyzing the yields.
the angle of incidence of the light. ing in the »Photoclass« project, coordinated by The results produced by the project are be-
the PTB, on classifying photovoltaic modules ing directly incorporated into the IEC standard
»Photoclass« and new standards according to their yield (»energy rating«) since 61853 current being drafted and which will con-
2014. One important component of their work tinue being worked on with the support of the
These reference solar cells are, in turn, used is the development of standardized reference project team members. Part 1 has already been
by research institutes such as the Fraunhofer conditions for different climatic zones. Infor- published and Part 2 will soon undergo final ap-
Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) to offer mation must be available about wind speed (as proval. They describe the measured values that
equally extensive measurements of solar cells it impacts the module temperature), direct and need to be taken for solar modules (essentially
on its part – with a little less precision, but at diffuse irradiation, spectral composition, angle those values that the PTB also determines for
lower cost. »We can also do this to the extent of incidence and ambient temperature for every solar cells). Parts 3 and 4 will cover the calcu-
necessary to obtain accurate yield calculations,« single hour of the year. »You can then com- lation specifications for identifying the yield

July 2016 61
science & technology | yield prognoses

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)

Test station used at the German National Metrology Institute: The solar cells are exposed to rays of monochromatic laser light (through the small round hole seen in the
center of the picture) at the same time as white light.

using these module characteristics in combina- 100 to 10,000 times over, depending on the modules. This is because when quantities of
tion with standardized weather data. wavelength. data like this are involved, differences between
The laser method also involves irradiating the solar cells based on the same technology will be
Lasers for more accurate cell with white light in order to produce realistic able to be determined in future with an preci-
measurements conditions. The power of the laser is, however, sion that will actually allow the system opera-
significantly higher than filtered light from a tors to identify the technically perfect module
The more exactly, and more extensively, the lamp, which improves the signal-to-noise ra- for the respective site.
solar cells can be measured, the more precise tio. The PTB puts the remaining measurement
the yield prognoses will be. And this is where uncertainty at 0.4 percent, from which the test
the PTB has now made significant progress. and calibration laboratories profit, as they can,
The scientists from the PTB are now utilizing in turn, pass on the lower measurement uncer-
lasers for the so-called differential-spectral- tainty to their customers. The measurement un-
responsivity (DSR) method to determine the certainty of 0.4 percent for short-circuit current
spectral sensitivity. When standard (lamp- under standard test conditions applies for ref-
based) methods are used, the white light erence solar cells measuring two by two centi-
is broken down into individual wavelength meters. When the reference solar cells measure
ranges using a monochromator, which then 15.6 by 15.6 centimeters, the measurement un-
hits the solar cell. To ensure the required stan- certainty totals 0.5 percent. Before the method
dard conditions of 1,000 watts per square me- was changed, the measurement uncertainty
ter are attained for the measurement, the cell totaled 0.6 percent for the small cells and 1.5
is irradiated with white light at the same time. percent for the large ones. The large reference
The white light decreases the signal-to-noise solar cells in particular have profited from the
ratio of the actual measurement signal, be- new laser method. This is why other research
cause the current produced by the white light institutes such as the Fraunhofer ISE are con-
is up to one billion times greater than the cur- verting their solar cell measuring stations from
rent generated by the monochromatic light. lamps with an added monochromator and are
By using the laser-based method, the PTB has fitting them with lasers.
now, according to information it has released, This development is both an opportunity and Further information
succeeded in reducing the interference factor a challenge for the manufacturers of cells and Contacts page 79

62 July 2016
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science & technology | R&D highlights | news

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

SCHMID Group
Optimizing production: Schmid’s new process to
produce PERC cells uses an alkaline solution instead
of hydrofluoric and nitric acids.

»Could break the Shockley-Queisser limit«: MIT

scientists have used nanophotonic crystals to develop
a new thermophotovoltaic device.

Pushing the limits: Researchers from the University

of New South Wales have achieved a 34.5-percent
conversion efficiency for a 28 cm2 four-junction mini-
module.

University of New South Wales - UNSW

On tour: A »triple A« LED simulator developed by PI
Berlin, Wavelabs and ZHAW in Zurich.

Monthly news on highlights in solar er to what they call the theoretical limits ide, nickel oxide and gold nanoparticles.
R&D of sunlight-to-electricity conversion using The scientists deposited a thin film of nickel ox-
photovoltaics. The scientist said that they were ide onto a single crystal of titanium dioxide and
Swedish nanotechnology company Sol able to achieve a 34.5-percent conversion effi- then introduced gold nanoparticles between the
Voltaics AB, a spin-off of QuNano AB, re- ciency for a 28 cm2 four-junction mini-module. two layers to act as an antenna that harvests vis-
cently announced it has raised $17 million The results were certified by the US Department ible light. The research team said the device was
in a series C funding round led by new of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy found to be highly durable and stable because
investor Riyadh Valley Company (RVC), Laboratory (NREL). The module splits the in- – unlike some solar cells – it does not contain
the venture capital investment branch of coming rays into four bands, using a hybrid organic components, which have a tendency to
King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Ara- four-junction receiver to squeeze electricity degrade over time and under harsh conditions.
bia. The company said it will use the funds to from each beam of sunlight. »Extracting more »Further research is needed to understand the
bring its nanowire-based solar efficiency boost- energy from every beam of sunlight is critical roles of each layer in conducting energy to im-
ing film to market. Sol Voltaics claims that its to reducing the cost of electricity generated by prove the device’s efficiency,« noted Hokkaido
nanomaterial innovations will enable PV mod- solar cells as it lowers the investment needed University in its press release.
ule efficiencies of more than 27 percent. and delivers payback faster,« said UNSW senior Belgian research center IMEC and the
German PV equipment provider Schmid researcher Mark Keevers. Solliance consortium, an international
Group has announced it has optimized the Japanese electronics and PV module R&D organization based in the Nether-
manufacturing process for PERC cells. The manufacturer Sharp Corp. has achieved a lands, Belgium and Germany working on
company said that its inline system for alkaline 31.17-percent efficiency for a triple-junc- thin-film PV, have presented what they
texturing enables manufacturers to irrigate wa- tion concentratng PV (CPV) solar cell. Ac- call the first semi-transparent perovskite
fers using potassium hydroxide and additives cording to Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei, PV module. According to IMEC, the module,
from above. The process now uses an alkaline so- the module measures approximately 31 x 31cm. which has an efficiency of 12 percent, can be
lution instead of hydrofluoric and nitric acids that The result was obtained as part of a research combined with zero-energy buildings with
are difficult to handle, according to the company. project conducted by Sharp in cooperation with silicon solar cells and reach 20.2-percent con-
»When using tin instead of silver for the back Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology version efficiency.
busbars, you turn another set screw to reduce Development Organization (NEDO). Sharp was Ulrich Paetzold, a researcher in the thin-film
costs and in particular to improve the results of recently acquired by Taiwanese multinational PV group at IMEC, explains »With a mm-size
the PERC process, since the typical reason for electronics contract manufacturing company perovskite solar cell stacked on our IBC solar
recombination, the silver back busbar, is avoid- Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. (Foxconn). cell, even efficiency as high as 22 percent has
ed,« said Schmid in its press release. A research team from Japan’s Hokkaido been obtained. But advancement of the per-
Engineers at the University of New South University have developed a new solid- ovskite/silicon stacked solar module technol-
Wales (UNSW) claim they have edged clos- state solar cell composed of titanium diox- ogy relies on demonstrators of realistic sizes.«

66 July 2016

 ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule der Angewandten Wissenschaften
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
have unveiled a new thermophotovoltaic (STPV) device. The re-
searchers claim that the new device has a higher solar-to-electrical con-
version efficiency compared to that of the underlying PV cell and that it
can more than double the theoretical limit of efficiency, potentially mak-
ing it possible to deliver twice as much power from a given area of panels.
The research team used high-tech materials called nanophotonic crystals,
which were integrated into a system with vertically aligned carbon nano-
tubes and operate at a high temperature of 1,000 °C.
»This is the first time we’ve actually put something between the sun and
the PV cell to prove the efficiency of the thermal system. Even with this
relatively simple early-stage demonstration, we showed that just with our
own unoptimized geometry, we in fact could break the Shockley-Queisser
limit,« said research coordinator David Bierman.
Scientists at Germany’s research institute Photovoltaik-Institut
Berlin (PI Berlin) have developed a new »AAA« LED solar simula-
tor that can detect faults in PV modules installed in large-scale
PV plants without the need to dismantle the panels. According to PI
Berlin, until now fault detection in PV modules with the accuracy pro-
vided by a triple-A device was only possible by dismantling the modules
and using mobile laboratories. PI Berlin scientists claim that their new
device allows module power output to be tested at any time of the day or
year and that if testing is performed at night, this has the added advantage
for operators that there is no downtime.
The LED solar simulator was developed in cooperation with the Ger-
man start-up Wavelabs Solar Metrology Systems GmbH and Zurich Uni-
versity of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), and with the support of business
association Electrosuisse.

Compilation Emiliano Bellini

July 2016 67
service | conferences & events

Calendar of events from

July 2016 to December 2017
September 19-21, 2016
July August September Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Exhibition & Conference: 1st Intersolar
July 11-14, 2016 August 21-23, 2016 September 7-9, 2016 Middle East
San Francisco, California, USA New Delhi, India New Delhi, India Taking place for the first time this event will
Conference & Exhibition: 9th Intersolar Conference & Exhibition: 7th World Conference & Exhibition: 10th Renewable focus on PV, solar thermal technology and solar
North America 2016 Renewable Energy Technology Congress Energy India (REI) architecture. It provides a platform for profes-
This annual event, which is being held in & Expo India’s largest PV trade fair was previously an sionals to discuss the latest developments and
conjunction with Semicon West, focuses on PV, Aimed at policymakers, project developers, exclusively solar-based event, but its scope offers the opportunity to network with others.
solar thermal technology and solar architecture. manufacturers, research institutes, consultants has since been broadened to include other Solar Promotion International GmbH
Exhibitors will include PV cell, module and in- and financial institutions, this event will look at renewable energies. Aimed at national and phone +49/7231/58598-0, fax -28
verter manufacturers, as well as component and all renewables, including solar thermal and PV. international industry players, the exhibition, [email protected]
mounting systems suppliers, among others. World Re-Energy Tech 2010 which is still dominated by solar companies, will www.intersolar.ae
Solar Promotion International GmbH Anil Garg also be accompanied by a conference program,
phone +49/7231/58598-0, fax -28 phone +91/99/71500028 at which government officials usually discuss September 29-30, 2016
[email protected] [email protected] India’s solar program. Miyazaki, Japan
www.intersolar.us www.wretc.in UBM India Pvt. Ltd. Bifi PV Workshop
Rajneesh Khattar This workshop brings together policymakers,
July 20-22, 2016 August 23-25, 2016 phone +91/9871/726762 industry professionals and scientists to discuss
Jakarta, Indonesia São Paulo, Brazil [email protected] developments and trends in the field of bifacial
Exhibition: 8th Indo Renergy Conference & Exhibition: 5th Intersolar www.renewableenergyindiaexpo.com applications. After presentations, panel discus-
This exhibition will cover a variety of renew- South America
sions will be held to clarify critical issues.
able energy sources, including PV and solar This annual event focuses on PV, solar thermal September 7-9, 2016 ISC - International Solar Energy Research Center
thermal. The event is aimed at power utilities, technology and solar architecture. It provides a Osaka, Japan Konstanz e.V.
manufacturers and government agencies, as well platform for professionals to discuss the latest Conference & Exhibition: 4th PV Expo Osaka Radovan Kopecek
as financial institutions and NGOs. developments and offers the opportunity to This national offshoot of March’s PV Expo in To- phone +49/7531/36183-0, fax -11
PT. Napindo Media Ashatama network with others. kyo aims to promote PV technologies, equipment [email protected]
phone +62/21/865096-2, fax -3 Solar Promotion International GmbH and products, with a specific focus on Japan. www.isc-konstanz.de
[email protected] Tina Engelhard Reed Exhibitions Japan Ltd.
www.indorenergy.com phone +49/7231/585982-07, fax -8 Ena Masui
[email protected] phone +81/3/334985-18, fax -35 October
July 25-29, 2016 www.intersolar.net.br [email protected]
St. Petersburg, Russia www.pvexpo-kansai.jp/en/ October 12-14, 2016
21st International Conference on August 25-27, 2016 Taipei, Taiwan
Photochemical Conversion and Storage of Shanghai, China September 12-15, 2016 Conference & Exhibition: 10th PV Taiwan
Solar Energy (IPS-21) Conference & Exhibition: 11th AsiaSolar Las Vegas, Nevada, USA This event will feature the latest in PV manu-
The IPS-21 Conference will provide a versatile This trade fair will cover PV cells and modules, Conference & Exhibition: 13th Solar Power facturing equipment, materials and services in
platform for formal and informal discussions raw materials, manufacturing components and International (SPI) Taiwan. It will also include conference sessions
with colleagues both from academia and solar lighting, as well as CPV. This event is the largest US business-to-business on the PV market.
industry, and foster new collaborations and Shanghai Aiexpo Exhibition Service Co. Ltd. solar conference and expo. Co-organized by SEIA SEMI Taiwan
partnerships. The conference will cover the Jie (Merry) Zhou and SEPA, it is one of the most important PV phone +886/3/5601-777, fax -555
following topics: Solar to Electricity Conversion phone +86/21/65-929965, fax -282319 events in the country. It will feature conference [email protected]
(Photovoltaics/DSSCs/Perovskite SCs/Organic [email protected] sessions focusing on policy, finance and solar www.pvtaiwan.com
polymer SCs ), Solar to Chemical Energy Conver- www.asiasolar.cc technologies, as well as an industry exhibition.
sion (Solar fuel/Water splitting/CO2 reduction), Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) October 4-5, 2016
Artificial Photosynthesis, Photocatalysis, New August 28 - September 1, 2016 phone +1/202/8570898, fax 5592035 Melbourne, Australia
Photoactive Materials, Mechanistic Studies, San Diego, California, USA [email protected] Conference & Exhibition: All-Energy
Engineering, Modelling. Trade fair: SPIE Optics and Photonics www.solarpowerinternational.com Australia 2016
Interregional Innovative Development Center The meeting format will include lectures by top This annual event will look at the direction na-
INNO-MIR experts from government, industry and academia September 13-14, 2016 tional energy generation and demand is taking.
Valeria Limonova addressing the needs for a greener future and a Birmingham, UK The event will encompass a trade fair platform
phone +7-812-645-35-90 new green economy. Trade fair: The Renewables Event 16 that focuses on state-of-the-art renewable
[email protected] SPIE The International Society for Optical The show will explore renewable energy technologies, including PV.
www.ips21-spb.com Engineering solutions, especially PV, for major corporations, Reed Exhibitions Australia Pty Ltd.
phone +1/360/6-763290, fax -471445 manufacturers, retailers and the public sector. Joe Rawlins
[email protected] The exhibition is co-located with the Energy phone +61/2/94222368
www.spie.org Event. [email protected]
i2i Events Group www.all-energy.com.au
phone +44/207/728-4681
[email protected]
www.therenewablesevent.com

Key: Africa & Middle East Americas Asia Australia Europe

68 July 2016

 PHOTON Academy on Tour

Your Master Trainer

Dr. Sean White

Award Winning
PHOTON Academy on Tour
»IREC Trainer of the Year 2014«
Solar PV Boot Camp – PV Installation Training 2016
Dates & venues in 2016 5-day Workshop: Installing and Designing PV Systems
• Manila, Philippines
February 29 - March 4, 2016
• The course curriculum focuses on international installation
• Dubai, UAE
March 14-18, 2016 standards set in relation to the domestic guidelines of each
host country.
• Tel-Aviv, Israel
April 4-8, 2016 • 40-hour comprehensive training workshop will teach
• Durban, South Africa participants how solar photovoltaic systems work, how they
April 11-15, 2016 are designed, how to predict the output of a system, and how
• Accra, Ghana systems are installed.
April 25-29, 2016
• This training program is designed for those who intend to
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
May 9-13, 2016
pursue a professional career in solar PV system design and
installation such as solar installers, contractors, project
• Shanghai, China managers, engineers, electricians, quality inspectors, technical
May 30 - June 3, 2016
support crew and more.
• Bangkok, Thailand
June 6-10, 2016 • Check out the full course curriculum and further details on our
• Taipei, Taiwan
website and register now to profit from early bird discounts!
June 20-24, 2016
• Additional group discounts of 10% are available when
• Jakarta, Indonesia registering three or more persons at once.
July 4-8, 2016

• San Francisco, CA, USA

July 15-19, 2016

• Mexico City, Mexico

September 19-23, 2016

• New Delhi, India

October 24-28, 2016
For questions and registration please
• Dublin, Ireland contact our admissions counselor:
November 14-18, 2016
Mr. Oliver B. Ashrafi
• Toronto, ON, Canada [email protected]
December 12-16, 2016
Tel. +49/30/3465546-22
July 2016
Fax +49/30/3465546-30 69
www.photon.info  Academy  PV Installation Training 2016
service | conferences & events

October 4-6, 2016 October 19-21, 2016 October 25-26, 2016

Birmingham, UK Mumbai, India New York, USA December
Conference & Exhibition: 6th Solar Energy Conference & Exhibition: 8th Intersolar India Conference: Solar Finance & Investment
UK This trade fair will showcase the latest develop- USA December 1, 2016
Running alongside the 3-day exhibition, there ments in the field of PV and solar thermal. This summit aims to bring together project devel- Bangkok, Thailand
will be a seminar series covering all things PV, Conferences will be held alongside the show. opers, investors, lenders, and others in the solar Conference: Solar Finance & Investment
the future of the solar market and the rise of energy community to share their perspectives on Asia
Solar Promotion International GmbH
large-scale installations. Attendees range from what it takes to get solar power finance deals This summit aims to bring together project devel-
phone +49/7231/58598-0, fax -28
policymakers, investment companies and techni- successfully developed and financed. opers, investors, lenders, and others in the solar
[email protected]
cal staff from within the industry to installers, Solar Media Ltd. energy community to share their perspectives on
www.intersolar.in
suppliers, developers and manufacturers. phone +44/20/787101-22, fax -01 what it takes to get solar power finance deals
Solar Media Ltd. October 19-21, 2016 [email protected] successfully developed and financed.
James Wight Warsaw, Poland financeusa.solarenergyevents.com Solar Media Ltd.
phone +44/20/787101-22, fax -01 Conference & Exhibition: 6th RENEXPO phone +44/20/787101-22, fax -01
[email protected] Poland October 26-28, 2016 [email protected]
uk.solarenergyevents.com This trade fair will focus on renewable energy Mexico City, Mexico financeasia.solarenergyevents.com
and energy efficiency. Business strategies and Conference & Exhibition: The Green Expo
October 4-6, 2016 networking opportunities will be combined with 2016 December 7-8, 2016
Den Bosch, the Netherlands the latest technological advances in the industry. The conference focuses on renewables, energy San Francisco, California, USA
Trade fair: Vakbeurs Energie 2016 REECO Poland Sp. z o.o. efficiency, green business and manufacturing, Conference: U.S. Energy Storage Summit
This event will inform visitors about innovations Malgorzata Bartkowski as well as transportation, sustainability, social This event brings together solar companies,
and trends in the field of solar power. Confer- phone +49/7121/3016159 responsibility, green careers and water. The regulators and policymakers, utilities and inves-
ences and panel discussions will take place [email protected] exhibition will present various new products and tors. Participants will have access to current
alongside the exhibition. www.renexpo-warsaw.com services in this sector. research on the maturing PV market in the US.
VNU Exhibitions Europe E.J. Krause de México Greentech Media Inc.
phone +31/30/2952731 October 19-21, 2016 Angélica Rodríguez Dufau phone +1/617/5004345, fax 6582557
[email protected] Abuja, Nigeria phone +52/5/10871159 [email protected]
www.energievakbeurs.nl Trade fair: 6th Nigeria Alternative Energy [email protected] www.greentechmedia.com/events
Expo www.thegreenexpo.com.mx
October 11-14, 2016 This exhibition will focus on sustainable energy
Palma de Mallorca, Spain solutions for Nigeria. It aims to create a platform January
11th EuroSun 2016: International Conference to showcase the latest innovations in renew- November
on Solar Energy for Buildings & Industry ables, including PV. January 16-19, 2017
The conference provides a platform to look at the Nigeria Alternative Energy Expo (NAEE) November 9-10, 2016 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
latest industry developments with solar energy Chris Edeh Chicago, Illinois, USA Conference & Exhibition: 10th World Future
specialists, policy makers and industry represen- phone +234/9/4806271 8th Solar Power PV Conference & Expo Energy Summit
tatives. The event will include topic sessions, [email protected] (formerly PV America) At this annual conference, the global agenda
keynote speakers, plenary sessions and open www.nigeriaalternativeenergyexpo.org This event is a conference and tradeshow for US for climate change and alternative energy
discussion forums, as well as social events. professionals in solar energy and related fields strategies will be discussed. Topics covered at
International Solar Energy Society (ISES) October 24-28, 2016 and features a regional focus. the summit will include PV and concentrating PV
phone +49/761/45906-50, fax -99 Singapore Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) (CPV), as well as other renewable energies. The
[email protected] 26th International Photovoltaic Science & phone +1/703/7389469 event is aimed at manufacturers of renewable
www.ises.org Engineering Conference (PVSEC-26) [email protected] energy products, traditional energy suppliers and
This event will cover topics related to global PV www.events.solar/pvconferenceexpo government agencies.
October 17-19, 2016 deployment. The conference aims to discuss Reed Exhibitions Middle East
Miami, Florida, USA the future of PV and its effects on infrastructure November 15, 2016 phone +971/2/4-917615, fax -443768
Conference: Caribbean Renewable Energy energy resources. Tehran, Iran [email protected]
Forum (CREF 2016) Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore Conference: Intersolar Summit Iran 2016 www.worldfutureenergysummit.com
Professionals will come together at this event (SERIS) The event provides an opportunity to gain inside
to address energy challenges being faced by the [email protected] information about the latest policy develop- January 25-27, 2017
Caribbean islands. The conference will focus on www.pvsec26.com ments, opportunities and key issues impacting Gent, Belgium
increasing the use of renewables, especially PV, the Iranian solar and energy storage markets. Trade fair: 7th Intersolution
to achieve energy security. October 25-26, 2016 Solar Promotion International GmbH This trade fair aims to provide an overview of so-
New Energy Events, LLC San Diego, California, USA phone +49/7231/58598-0, Fax -28 lar energy system manufacturers. Exhibitors will
Matthew Perks Conference: U.S. Solar Market Insight [email protected] include manufacturers of solar cells, PV modules,
phone +1/845/440/7800 This event brings together solar companies, www.intersolarglobal.com/en/summits/turkey. solar thermal collectors, heat pumps, solar
[email protected]. regulators and policymakers, utilities and inves- html collectors, silicon, transformers, wiring devices,
www.newenergyevents.com/cref/ tors. Participants will have access to current production equipment, mounting systems and
research on the maturing PV market in the US. November 29 - December 1, 2016 system components.
October 19-21, 2016 Greentech Media Inc. Bangkok, Thailand Delfico BVBA
Heraklion Crete, Greece phone +1/617/5004345, fax 6582557 Conference: Solar & Off-Grid Renewables phone +32/9/385771-9, fax -8
Organic & Perovskite Solar Cells [email protected] Southeast Asia [email protected]
Conference www.greentechmedia.com/events Aimed at key regional and international players www.intersolution.be
The conference aims to centralize the partici- in the solar industry, the conference aids in
pants’ interest by presenting the most recent speeding up the uptake of solar in West Africa,
attainments, highlights, current challenges while facilitating business opportunities in the
and perspectives, conclusions and suggested region.
future works in Organic and Hybrid Solar Cells Solar Media Ltd.
Technologies. phone +44/20/787101-22, fax -01
Technological Educational Institute of Patras (TEI) [email protected]
phone +30/610369104 westafrica.solarenergyevents.com
[email protected]
http://solar.teicrete.gr/

Key: Africa & Middle East Americas Asia Australia Europe

70 70 June

July 2016
 March 2-4, 2017
February Dhaka, Bangladesh
Conference & Exhibition: 8th Solartech
February 7-9, 2017 Bangladesh
London, United Kingdom This event will showcase renewable energy,
Conference: Solar Finance & Investment intelligent energy systems and energy efficiency,
This summit aims to bring together project devel- including solar thermal and PV.
opers, investors, lenders, and others in the solar ExpoNet Exhibition Pvt. Ltd.
energy community to share their perspectives on phone +880/2/8321726, fax 9348871
what it takes to get solar power finance deals [email protected]
successfully developed and financed. www.solartechbd.com
Solar Media Ltd.
Corinna Algranti March 7-9, 2017
phone +44/20/78710122 London, United Kingdom
[email protected] Trade fair: Ecobuild 2017
finance.solarenergyevents.com Ecobuild is a conference on sustainable design,
construction and the built environment, with
February 13-14, 2017 attendees presenting projects from across the
Boston, Massachusetts, USA UK and beyond. It is the biggest exhibition of
PV Conference & Expo (formerly PV sustainable construction products in the UK and
America) includes more than 180 free conference and
This event is a conference and tradeshow for US seminar sessions held by 800 speakers.
professionals in solar energy and related fields United Business Media Corporate (UBM)
and features a regional focus. phone +44/20/7-9215000, fax -8616253
Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) [email protected]
phone +1/703/738-9469 www.ecobuild.co.uk
[email protected]
www.events.solar/pvconferenceexpo March 8-10, 2017
Bad Staffelstein, Germany
February 14-16, 2017 Conference: 32nd Photovoltaic Symposium
Dubai, United Arab Emirates This symposium is an annual meeting of
Conference & Exhibition: Solar Middle East representatives from Germany’s PV industry and
This exhibition will showcase PV, solar thermal, scientists working on PV system technology. The
photoelectric and solar energy engineering conference language is German.
products. It is aimed at management in the PV Ostbayerisches Technologie-Transfer-Institut
industry and public authorities, as well as local e. V. (OTTI)
and international traders. A conference program
is scheduled alongside the exhibition.
Andrea Heidloff April 5 7 , 2017 Korea
phone +49/941/29688-38, fax -17
Informa Exhibitions – Middle East – IIR Exhibi- [email protected]
tions www.pv-symposium.de
phone +971/4/33-65161, fax -52711
[email protected] March 14-15, 2017
www.solarmiddleeast.ae Penang, Malaysia
Conference: PV Cell Tech
February 28 - March 1, 2017 The event, aimed at senior engineering deci-
London, United Kingdom sion makers, will look at efficiency and cost
Conference: Energy Storage Summit challenges in upgrading cell production lines,
Bringing together major stakeholders relevant to advanced cell concepts, and the future of solar
the industry, the event will cover the addressable PV manufacturing.
downstream market and how to sell and unlock Solar Media Ltd. Korea’s No. 1, Asia’s Top 3, World’s Top 10 photovoltaic exhibition
the much greater potential of energy storage. Rosie Riley
Solar Media Ltd. phone +44/20/78710122
The sole exhibition co-organized by Korea 4 major associations in
phone +44/20/787101-22, fax -01 [email protected]
renewable energy industry
[email protected] celltech.solarenergyevents.com
storage.solarenergyevents.com
The most important exhibition in Asia market
March 28-29, 2017 Global Solar Alliance member as a representative of Korea
Johannesburg, South Africa
March Trade fair: The Solar Show Africa 2017 Concurrent Events
The exhibition is part of Power & Electricity
March 1-3, 2017 - Green Energy Business Conference 2017
World Africa 2016 and will present the latest
Tokyo, Japan - GPVC 2017 (Global Photovoltaic Conference 2017)
developments and trends in the field of solar
Conference & Exhibition: 10th PV EXPO 2017
energy. Conferences and seminars will take
The PV Expo, which is held as part of several ex-
place alongside the show.
hibitions covering other renewables and energy
Terrapinn Pty Ltd.
storage, is Japan’s leading PV event. It will focus
phone +27/11/5164000, fax 4636000
on PV materials and manufacturing equipment,
[email protected]
as well as solar cells and modules, and other
www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/solar-show-
products needed for PV systems. The exhibition
africa/index.stm
is aimed at industry professionals, construction
companies, universities and government offices.
Reed Exhibitions Japan Ltd.
phone +81/3/334985-76, fax -35
[email protected]
www.pvexpo.jp/en/

July 2016 71 [email protected] www.energyexpo.co.kr

service | conferences & events

March 29-31, 2017 April 6-8, 2017 May 24-25, 2017

Beijing, China Istanbul, Turkey Manila, Philippines
Conference & Exhibition: 9th CIPV Expo Exhibition & Conference: 10th SolarEx Trade fair: The Solar Show Philippines 2017
Co-located with China Clean Energy Expo – Istanbul The exhibition is part of Power & Electricity
which concentrates on CSP, along with other re- This event, which will feature information on World Philippines 2017 and will present the
newable energy sources – CIPV will concentrate solar thermal and PV systems, will showcase latest developments and trends in the field of
on BIPV, solar cells, PV materials and products, innovative products and research. Turkish and solar energy. Conference sessions and seminars
as well as components, engineering, PV systems English will be the main languages used. will take place alongside the show.
and PV production equipment. Ihlas Fuar Hizmetleri AS Terrapinn Pte Ltd.
Beijing Tiger Exhibition Co. Ltd. Hakan Kurt phone +65/622-28550, fax -63264
phone +86/10/8460065-7, fax -9 phone +90/5054682964, fax 2124542506 [email protected]
[email protected] [email protected] www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/the-solar-show-
www.cipvexpo.cn eng.solarexistanbul.com philippines

April 18-21, 2017 June 21-24, 2016

April Shanghai, China Munich, Germany
Conference & Exhibition: 11th SNEC PV Conference & Exhibition: 26th Intersolar
April 3-6, 2017 Power Expo Europe 2016
Freiburg, Germany SNEC is the world’s largest PV event. This trade Intersolar is Europe’s largest trade fair for solar
Conference: 7th SiliconPV fair showcases everything PV has to offer – from energy – including both PV and solar thermal.
The conference is a forum for professionals to ingots to modules, production equipment and This annual event – taking place in conjunction
discuss recent progress in the field of silicon system technologies. It is accompanied by with EU PVSEC for the first time – is primarily
used in PV production and gives participants the several conferences. visited by professionals, but end-consumers
opportunity to exchange information. Shanghai New Energy Industry Association also attend.
PSE AG (SNEIA) Solar Promotion GmbH
phone +49/761/47914-0, fax -44 Teresa Wen phone +49/7231/58598-0, fax -28
[email protected] phone +86/21/64-276991, fax -642653 [email protected]
www.siliconpv.com [email protected] www.intersolar.de
www.snec.org.cn
April 4-6, 2017
Accra, Ghana June
Conference: Solar & Off-Grid Renewables
West Africa May
June 25-30, 2017
Aimed at key regional and international players Washington, District of Columbia, USA
May 3-4, 2017
in the solar industry, the conference aids in Conference & Exhibition: 44th IEEE
Melbourne, Australia
speeding up the uptake of solar in West Africa, Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
55th SolarEnergy 2017 – Australian PV Solar
while facilitating business opportunities in the This US event is one of the world’s three big
Energy Conference & Exhibition
region. scientific PV conferences. The conference covers
This event, also known as the »54th Australian
Solar Media Ltd. all scientific aspects of the PV value chain
PV Solar Energy Conference & Exhibition,« is
phone +44/20/787101-22, fax -01 and includes an exhibition to accompany the
dedicated to the contribution that solar energy
[email protected] conference.
makes to Australia’s goal of generating 20 per-
westafrica.solarenergyevents.com National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
cent of its energy from renewables by 2020. The
exhibition will showcase the newest products phone +1/303/2753000
April 5-7, 2017 [email protected]
and trends.
Bangor, UK www.ieee-pvsc.org
Australian Solar Council
Conference: 13th Photovoltaic Science
Application & Technology (PVSAT-13) phone +61/418/202870
Invited speakers will provide overviews on [email protected] September
national and international developments, and www.solarexpo.com.au
scientific papers will be presented on the follow- September 13-16, 2017
May 9-11, 2017 Jakarta, Indonesia
ing subjects: cells and materials; manufacturing
São Paulo, Brazil Trade fair: 18th Electric, Power & Renewable
processes; PV system issues (including system
Conference & Exhibition: Expo Solar Energy Indonesia
modeling and design); building-integrated PV
This event will inform visitors about innovations This event covers power generation, renewable
(BIPV); performance measurement; and field
and trends in the field of solar power. Confer- energy and electricity in the emerging Indo-
experience.
ence sessions and panel discussions will take nesian market. These three key topics will be
UK Section of the International Solar Energy
place alongside the exhibition. explored along with the fast-growing economy
Society (ISES UK)
Rofer Ferias & Eventos centered around the energy field.
phone +44/7760/163559, fax 1235/848684
phone +55/11/27300522 PT Pamerindo Buana Abadi
[email protected]
[email protected] phone +62/21/2525-320, fax -482
www.pvsat.org.uk
www.exposolarbrasil.com.br [email protected]
April 5-7, 2017 www.electricindonesia.com
May 18-20, 2017
Daegu, South Korea
Istanbul, Turkey
Conference & Exhibition: 14th Green Energy
Conference: 7th IRENEC 2017 December
Expo Korea
This event will focus on the legal framework
This event will include a technical conference December 5-7, 2017
for the use of renewable energy sources. It will
and seminars on topics ranging from PV materi- Mumbai, India
examine the transition from fossil fuels to clean
als to systems, market trends and government Conference & Exhibition: 9th Intersolar India
energy in the current climate in Turkey.
policy. It targets professionals from the PV This trade fair will showcase the latest develop-
Eurosolar Türkiye Further information
industry, as well as government officials. ments in the field of PV and solar thermal.
EXCO Daegu Exhibition & Convention Center
phone +90/532/7744525, fax 216/5891616 The events listed here represent a
[email protected] Conferences will be held alongside the show.
phone +82/53/60150-00, fax -29 Solar Promotion International GmbH selection. Our complete schedule of
www.irenec.org/eng/
[email protected] phone +49/7231/58598-0, fax -28 events, which is updated daily, can
www.energyexpo.co.kr/eng [email protected] be viewed at www.photon.info under
www.intersolar.in
»Publishing  Event Calendar«. If you
know of a PV event that is missing
from our online calendar, please send
the relevant information via email
to [email protected], or fax it to
+49/30/3465546-30

Key: Africa & Middle East Americas Asia Australia Europe

72 July 2016
service | company directory

The Solar Power Magazine

International
Cell and Module Encapsulation Kuraray Europe GmbH Green Power PV Co., Ltd. Charge Controllers
First manufacturer of specifically Solar cell and module manufacturer; Cell
designed PVB film for solar/ efficiency up to 17.5%; Module’s power from
FLEXcon Company photovoltaic module lamination 10W to 290W mono and poly Morningstar Corporation
Manufacturer of customized and Division TROSIFOL Certified by TUV, VDE, CE, UL, ISO Available through 230+ highly qualified
standard multi-layer flexible Mülheimer Straße 26, 53840 Troisdorf, Germany Wujin, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China 213161 distributors in over 90 countries,
composites for barrier protection phone +49/2241/2555-203 phone +86 21 62895815, fax 21 62895817 Morningstar´s products have been
of crystalline and thin-film fax +49/2241/2555-299 Phone +86-21-62895815; +86-519-86520808 renowned for their robust thermal,
photovoltaic modules. [email protected] Fax +86-21-62895817; +86-519-86523088 mechanical & electronic circuitry
1 FLEXcon Industrial Park [email protected] www.gppv.cc design for over 20 years.
Spencer, MA 01562-2642, USA Cells 8 Pheasant Run
phone +1/508/885-8455, fax -1481 Newtown, PA, USA
[email protected] Juli New Energy Co., LTD phone +1/215/321-4457, fax -4458
GINTECH ENERGY CORPORATION Juli is a vertical production chain [email protected]
State of the art crystalline solar company manufacture and sales of crystalline www.morningstarcorp.com
Hangzhou First PV Material Co Ltd cells including 156x156mm/125x125mm silicon, silicon wafer, solar cells,
We are a high tech enterprise specialized and multi/mono with high efficiency. solar modules. Juli also invests developes Consultants
in producing Solar EVA film and backsheet 1.2GW capacity, your reliable supplier. and operates PV power plants.
with 10 years experiences and 18GW, 9F, No.295, Sec.2, Tiding Blvd, Juli Road
devotes to innovative technology and Taipei City, 114, Taiwan, R.O.C. Hebei Baoding Xushui, China 3E
continuous improvement. Taiwan, R.O.C. phone +86-312-8669999, fax -86-312-8689999 3E is an independent global software
407 XiShu Street Linan 311300 phone +886/2/2656-2000, fax -0593, fax -199 [email protected], www.julisolar.com and consultancy company specialized
Hangzhou City China [email protected],www.gintechenergy.com in due diligence, module assessments,
Phone/Fax: 86 571 63812086 63710907 project guidance and PV portfolio
[email protected] www.firstpvm.com Shanghai Solar Energy S&T Co.Ltd monitoring & optimization (SynaptiQ)
Neo Solar Power Corp. Began research and production of solar cells Vaartstraat 61, Rue de Canal
Commitment to Outperform! NSP specializes in and modules in 1960. Its products have received Belgium - 1000 Brussels
ISOVOLTAIC AG manufacturing high-performance and high-quality PTL, CQC, Gold Sun, TUV, Rina, UL, CSA, phone: +32-2- 217 58 68
Production and sale of backsheet films for PV cells. Its “Black19” and “Perfect19” (mono) CEC and other authentications. It has received www.3e.eu - www.3esynaptiq.com
photovoltaic modules. can reach average efficiency 19% and “Super17” such from Germany, Italy and other state banks.
A-8403 Lebring (multi) 17%. NSP is your best solar cell partner. We have purchased quality and liability
Isovoltastraße 1 7, Li-Hsin 3rd Rd., Hsinchu Science Park, insurances for our products. PV Activities in Japan
Austria Hsinchu, 30078, Taiwan No.5 Building,880 ZiYue Rd.MinHang District Osamu Ikki
phone: +43 / 5 9191-0 Phone +886-3-578-0011 Shanghai 200241,China RTS Corporation
e-mail: [email protected] [email protected], www.nsp.com phone +8621-64894543 fax +8621-64894543 2-3-11 Shinkawa
www.isovoltaic.com [email protected],www.ssec-solar.com Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0033
Cells and Modules phone +81/3/3551-6345
fax +81/3/3553-8954
KREMPEL-GROUP e-mail: [email protected]
Manufacturer of laminates for back or CECEP Solar www.rts-pv.com
front encapsulation and protection of Main products: Solar cells, solar modules,
photovoltaic modules. integrated solutions for PV power station.
Papierfabrikstrasse 4 Certified by TUV, UL, CE, CQC, IEC.
D-71665 Vaihingen/Enz, Germany We are the leading solar power station
phone +49/7042/915-0 investor and operator in China.
fax +49/7042/15985 No. 9, Bei shan Road, Xinqu
[email protected] Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu, China
www.krempel.com phone +86/511/85587888, fax 85587711
[email protected], www.cecepsolar.com

74 July 2016
 photon-pictures.com
Crystal Growth Equipment Factory Design SAMIL POWER CO.,LTD. Trannergy
Manufacturer of Grid-connected PV power Professional manufacturer of
inverters and other PV system accessories grid-tied solar inverters with power
ALD Vacuum Techn. GmbH ATS Automation and other PV system accessories for ranging from 1KW to 30KW. Grid safety
Worldwide leading supplier of ATS offers over 30 years of experience in residential use and commecial power stations. regulation of VDE-AR-N 4105, VDE0126-1-1+A1,
technology and production equipment factory-wide integration incl. assembly No.52 Huigu Innovation Park, Huishan District AS4777, UTE, ENEL, RD1663, G59/2, G59/3,
for metallurgical and solar applicat- and test automation. Our products include Wuxi, Jiangsu Province 214174 P.R.C., China G83/2, IEC61727, IEC62116, MEA, PEA, etc.
ions. Crystallization equipment for wet bench, wafer handling, cell sorter, phone +86/510/83593131, fax 83593136 No.188, Weiwu Rd. 201802 Shanghai, China
multi and mono2tm ingot production. laser processing and module automation [email protected],ww.samilpower.com Phone +86-21-38953908
Wilhelm-Rohn-Str. 35 730 Fountain St.N,Cambridge N3H 4R7,Canada [email protected]
D-63450 Hanau, Germany phone +1-519-653-6500, fax 519-653-6533 www.trannergy.com
+49 6181/307-0, +49 6181/307-3290 [email protected] SELECTRONIC AUSTRALIA
[email protected], www.ald-vt.de www.atsautomation.com Our 30 years of experience has led us
to design and manufacture a highly Victron Energy
Inverters innovative range of inverter chargers True sinewave stand-alone inverters and
MERSEN (formerly Carbone Lorraine) for grid feed battery backup or combined inverter-chargers. Modular systems
Innovative solutions for the solar and off grid. 2800 W to 18000 W 200 W + 45 kW. Unique grid and generator
semiconductor industries. An extended Suite 5, 20 Fletcher Road parallel operation features. Also battery chargers
range of high performance materials Chrinside Park, Victoria, Australia battery monitoring, and DC/DC converters.
large size graphite blocks, C/C composites, phone +61/3/9727-6600 P.O. Box 50076
thermal insulation materials. Bonfiglioli Riduttori S.P.A. www.selectronic.com.au 1305 AA Almere-Haven, The Netherlands
41, rue Jean Jaurès, BP 148 Bonfiglioli engineers and manufactures phone +31/535-9700, fax -9740
F-92231 Gennevilliers Cedex, France inverter solutions and power conditioners www.victronenergie.com
phone +33/141854514, fax +33/141854353 for the Grid integration of Megawatt-Scale Studer Innotec SA
[email protected], www.mersen.com storage systems and photovoltaic Swiss made inverters and
plants. inverter-chargers for off grid systems. Voltronic Power Technology
Via Giovanni XXIII, 7/A CH-1950 Sion Leading OEM/DOM manufacturer of grid-
PVA TePla AG phone: +41/27/2056080 tied inverters, hybrid inverters off-grid
a company of the PVA TePla Group Lippo di Calderara (Bologna), Italy
phone +390516473111 fax: +41/272056088 inverters and MPPT charger with
Manufacturer of crystal pulling equipment for e-mail: [email protected] user-friendly LCD.
wafer manufacturers in solar, semiconductor [email protected]
www.bonfiglioli.com www.studer-innotec.com 5F, No. 151, Xinhu 1st road, Neihu dist.
and optoelectronic industry. Products are Taipei, Taiwan
available for silicon ingots of all diameters, as phone +886-2-27918296
well compound semiconductor crystals. SAJ ELECTRIC CO., LTD. sunways AG [email protected]
Available features include computer automation, Manufacturer of solar inverters Our grid connected inverters lead over www.voltronicpower.com
feeding systems and oxide filtration. and also offer PV monitoring software rival products with a european effici-
Im Westpark 10-12, D-35614 Wettenberg, data acquisition & complete PV ency rate over 96%. Advantages of our Laminators
Germany system application solutions. inverters: High energy yield, reliable
phone +49/641/68690-0, fax -800 No. 17, Xiangshan Road technique, five year warranty-at no
[email protected], www.pvatepla.com Guangzhou Science City, GD, China extra charge, long service life, low ECOPROGETTI Srl
phone +86-20-6660 8532 power consumption and modular With 25 years of experience in the
fax +86-20-6660 8617 system design. Sales on subsidiary photovoltaic industry, we design and
[email protected], www.saj-solar.com company MHH Solartechnik GmbH construct complete turnkey lines
sunways AG Photovoltaic Technology and personalized equipment for the
Macairestr. 3 - 5, D-78467 Konstanz production of photovoltaic modules.
phone: +49/7531/99677-0, fax: -10 Via dell’industria e dell’artigianato 27/C
e-mail: [email protected], www.sunways.de Carmignano di Brenta, Italy
phone +390-49-5991959, fax -9459210
[email protected], www.ecoprogetti.it

July 2016 75
service | company directory

Manufacturing Equipment Pasan SA Sunter & NBZH Ligitek Photovoltaic Co., Ltd.
Pasan sun simulators of outstanding spectral The top supplier of PV junction boxes, Taiwan’s most experienced and
accuracy and light uniformity for standard and connectors and cable from China. competitive solar module manufacturer.
ATS Automation large customized dimensions. Applications in UL, TUV, IEC and RoHS approved. No. 238, Bo-ai St., Shulin City
ATS offers over 30 years of experience in crystalline as well as in thin film panels. Xinpu Town Industrial Zone, Taipei County 238, Taiwan R.O.C.
factory-wide integration incl. assembly Advanced cell testers for laboratory and Cixi, Zhejiang 315322, P.R.China phone +886/2/7703/6300 ext. 6302
and test automation. Our products include production facilities and high performance phone +86/574/63777488 [email protected]
wet bench, wafer handling, cell sorter, cell sorters. [email protected]
laser processing and module automation Rue Jaquet-Droz 8 www.pvzh.com
730 Fountain St.N,Cambridge N3H 4R7,Canada CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland RITEK Solar
phone +1-519-653-6500, fax 519-653-6533 phone: +41/32/391-1600, fax -1699 Modules An expert manufacturer of PV-Modules
[email protected] [email protected], www.pasan.ch from polycrystalline, mono-crystalline, to BIPV
www.atsautomation.com certificated by TÜV, UL, CEC, and MCS.
Amerisolar-Worldwide Energy No 42, Kuan-Fu N. Rd., Hsin Chu
SCHMID Group A leading solar manufacturer of USA brand Industrial Park, 30316, Hsinchu, Taiwan
ECOPROGETTI Srl Process and automation equipment as “Amerisolar” with 500MW capacity in 2012. phone +886-03-598-7298
With 25 years of experience in the well as turnkey solutions for wafer Certified by TUV,UL,MCS, ISO9001,ISO14001, fax +886-03-599-8449
photovoltaic industry, we design and production, cell production and module OHSAS18001, CSTB, Kemco and CEC listed. [email protected]
construct complete turnkey lines assembly. phone +86/21-6211-5260, fax 6211-5205 www.riteksolar.com
and personalized equipment for the Robert-Bosch-Str. 32-36 [email protected]
production of photovoltaic modules. D-72250 Freudenstadt, Germany www.weamerisolar.com
Via dell’industria e dell’artigianato 27/C phone +49/7441/538-0, fax -121 Solartron PCL
Carmignano di Brenta, Italy [email protected] Producer of a wide range of high
phone +390-49-5991959, fax -9459210 www.schmid-group.com Apollo Solar Energy Co., Ltd quality solar modules and system
[email protected], www.ecoprogetti.it ASEC has become one of the leading solar integrators, with 22 years experience.
module manufacturers with capability of Production of crystalline Si-cells
Sidrabe Inc. meeting various demands from household, will start in 2009.
Herbert Arnold GmbH & Co KG Different types of customized commercial, residential, power plan, 1000/65-67 PB Tower, Sukhumvit 71 Rd.
Machines and plants - manual to fully automated industrial and pilot coaters for PVD land field &industrial applications Bangkok 101110, Thailand
loading - for poly, mono, and multicrystalline and PECVD processes on metallic No. 65-11, Jiutsuo Liao, Wuhan Village, Longtan phone +66/2/3920224, fax 3924538
silicon: vertical grinding, cutting, cutting on foils, plastic webs and glass. Township,Taouyuan County, Taiwan, 32548 [email protected]
length, squaring, chamfering and profiling, Contract R&D phone +886-3-479-8538, fax +886-3-4798569
ingot cutting, top and tail cutting, rotary 17 Krustpils Street [email protected]; www.asectw.com
cutting and grinding. Riga, LV 1073, Latvia SunLink PV Technology Co., Ltd.
Weilstr. 6, 35781 Weilburg, Germany phone +371/67249806, fax 67139506 Solar module up to 300W
phone +49/6471/9394-0, fax 2065 [email protected], www.sidrabe.com General Solar Power (Yantai) Co., Ltd. 300MW Solar module capacity for 2011
[email protected], www.arnold-gruppe.de Manufacturer of a full range of a-Si modules for Solar cell capacity for 2011
residential, commercial, utility, and BIPV Certification: TUV, VDE, ETL, CE, IEC61215,
Soliton Laser- und Messtechnik GmbH applications; total solutions provider combining IEC61730, TüV Class II, ISO9001
Kurdex Corporation Laser systems for production of solar cells, up & down stream capabilities; Nanyuan Rd, Zhangjiagang Economic Dev. Zone,
Supplies HVM thinfilm deposition equipment; wafer and thin film cells. Certifications: IEC 61646, EN 61730, TUV I Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province, 215600
PVD, ALD, EVAP, PECVD on on-line or R2R Talhofstr. 32, 82205 Gilching, Germany ntercert, CGC, TUV Rheinland, CE, UL phone +86/512/58166568, fax 58166560
platforms for silicon & thinfilm solar, phone +49/8105/7792-0, fax -77 No.22,Yingteer Av.,Fushan Dist.,Yantai 265500 [email protected], www.sunlink-PV.com
semiconductor, packaging, FPD on glass, [email protected], www.soliton-gmbh.de phone +86 535 6980888, fax +86 535 6985888
silicon, foil. [email protected], www.solargsp.com
343 Gibraltar Drive Titan Energy Systems Limited
Sunnyvale, CA, USA Tronrud Engineering AS An ISO 9001-2000 certified manufacturer of
phone +1-408-734-8181, Fax +1-408-734-5151 More than 10 years’ experience ISOFOTON S.A. multi-technology Solar PV modules, crystalline
[email protected] in the PV industry with several GW Spanish leading company dedicated to modules up to 245Wp, thin-film and CIGS modules
install base. Provide Wafer and Cell the design, manufacture and commercia- up to 120 W as per IEC 61215:2005, IEC 61730-2.
singulation, automation & sorting, lisation of PV cells, PV modules (5-250 Wp) 16, Aruna Enclave, Trimulgherry
LPKF SolarQuipment GmbH and Module load testing. and HCPV. Secunderabad, 500 015, India
LPKF Allegro TM - Laser systems Flyplassveien 22, Other services: Installation, technical phone +91/40/2779-1085, 0751, fax -5629
for fast and precise scribing N-3514 Honefoss, Norway assistance and architecture integration [email protected]
of thin-film solar panels +47/321/61820 [email protected] in facades and roofs. www.titan-energy.com
CdTe, CIS, a-Si/µSi) on www.tronrud.no Contact: Javier Mestres
glass and flexible substrates. C/Montalban 9, Madrid (Spain)
Mittelbergstr. 17, D-98527 Suhl, Germany Module Connectors [email protected] TOPSUN Co., Ltd.
phone +49(0)3681/8924-0, fax -44 phone +34/914147800, fax +34/911512800 Professional manufacturer of high efficiency
[email protected] mono/polycrystalline PV-modules from
www.lpkf-solarquipment.com BIZLINK TECHNOLOGY, INC. 370 W - 430 W with CE, ISO, IEC61215/61730
BizLink provides dual-certified module Jumao Solar (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. certified. OEM corporation is acceptable.
connectivity products through our Jumao Solar is professional PV module A3-8, 10 Block, Nampyeong-ri,
Meco Equipment Engineers Sunbolts brand. Please visit manufacturer supplying modules up to Donghwa-myeong, Jangseong-gun,
Plating equipment for semi conductor and www.sunbolts.com to learn more about 360 W capacity: 100 MW @ 2012. Jeollanam-do, Korea
solar industry. Turn-key plating lines for our J-box, connector and solar cable. TUV/UL/JET/CE/CEC/FSEC/MCS certified. phone +82/61/399-1500, fax -1501
thin-film solar cell manufacturing, 3400 Gateway Blvd. No. 62, Wets Lingdou Road, Siming District [email protected], www.topsun.kr
metallization on silicon solar cells Fremont, CA 94538, USA Xiamen, 364009, Fujian, China
and on flex foil. phone +1/510-252-1178 phone +865923105200, fax +865925931921
Marconilaan 2 [email protected] [email protected] Websol Energy Systems Ltd.
NL-5151 DR Drunen, Netherlands Websol is a vertically integrated
phone +31/416/384384, fax 384300 manufacturer of Solar Cells and Modules
[email protected], www.meco.nl QC Solar Corporation LDK SOLAR HI-TECH Co., LTD. (10 Wp to 280 Wp) with over 15 years
Innovative pioneer manufacturer of solar PV Focuses on the research and manufacture of experience. All Products are certified
connecting products, PV junction boxes, silicon solar wafers and aims to be a world class to UL 1703, IEC 61215 & 61730 Standards
Mondragon Assembly cable connectors, suitable for silicon solar specialized and leading supplier of multi- 5th Floor , Ideal Centre
Modules: Turnkey production lines. Cell tester, panels and thin-film modules. Top one capacity crystalline solar wafer of high quality. 9 AJC Bose Road, Kolkata 700017 India
tabber & stringer, interconnection, flash tester, in China, TUV & UL approved. No. 58, Suli Road, Wuzhong, Suzhou Tel +91 3340239031, Fax+91 3340239011
IR control. Cells: Laser scribing & edge isolation No.31, Xinfa Road, SIP, Suzhou, 215123 China Jiangsu Province, China [email protected]
automatic cell handling systems, special solutions phone +86/512/62603395, fax 62603396 phone +86/512/65629698, fax 65622785 www.webelsolar.com
Pol. Ind. Bainetxe, RAB. 5-A [email protected] [email protected], www.ldksolar.com
20550 Aretxabaleta, Spain www.qc-solar.com.cn
phone +34/943712080, fax 943712210
[email protected]
www.mondragon-assembly.com

76 July 2016

Mounting Systems Screen Printers & Metallization ATS Automation SDN Company Ltd.
ATS offers over 30 years of experience in Total provider of all components of PVGS with
factory-wide integration incl. assembly several year field records since 2003. World’s
Mounting Systems GmbH DUBUIT MACHINES and test automation. Our products include only Turn-Key System through SunDay Series
Manufacturer of mounting systems and Screen printing & metallization wet bench, wafer handling, cell sorter, (Module, Inverter, Structure, etc.).
components for Photovoltaic and “In” & “off” line equipment for solar cells laser processing and module automation SDN Company Ltd.
SolarThermal Up to 210 x 210mm. Dryers & furnaces, 730 Fountain St.N,Cambridge N3H 4R7,Canada 3110 Technomart 546-4, Guui-Dong
Mittenwalder Straße 9a camera controls, high output, very phone +1-519-653-6500, fax 519-653-6533 Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 143-721, Korea
15834 Rangsdorf, GERMANY compact design. [email protected] Tel: +82-2-446-6691, Fax. +82-2-3424-3818
Phone +49/33708/529-0, Fax -199 10/12 rue du Ballon - ZI les Richardets www.atsautomation.com [email protected], www.sdn-i.com
www.mounting-systems.com 93161 Noisy le Grand Cedex, France
phone: +33/1/48158-100, fax: -106
[email protected] BERGER Lichttechnik SOLAR ELECTRIC
Sadef nv Pulsed solar simulators and measuring Orleans, Lyon, Malaga, Martinique,
Design and manufacturing of systems to certify all electr. power Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Reunion
steel structures for PV JRT Photovoltaics GmbH & Co. KG and safety requirements of PV modules 85 Bd de la Salle - IMM Actinovis
B-8830 Gits, Bruggesteenweg 60 JRT is offering an optimal service spectrum and cells according DIN, EN, ISO, IEC, UL. 45800 Saint Jean de Braye - France
Tel.: +32/51/261211, in the sector of metallization and handling Over 30 years experience in int’l phone +33/253359000, fax 238759190
Fax +32/51/261301 technologies, and the partial coating of terrestrial and space industry. www.solarelectric.fr
www.sadef.com, [email protected] crystalline solar cells. Wolfratshauser Str. 150, 82049 Pullach
Riegeler Strasse 4 phone +49/89/79355-266, fax -265
79364 Malterdingen, Germany www.bergerlichttechnik.de SOLAR23 GmbH
The Mount Makers Co., Ltd. phone +49-7644-92797-0, fax -110 products: PV grid connection, pumping,
Professional manufacturer of solar [email protected], www.jrt-pv.de SHS, solar heating, wind power
mounting systems. Maker of complete Pasan SA services: engineering, turn key
mounting components and customized Pasan sun simulators of outstanding spectral installations & projects, rural
designs. Meco Equipment Engineers accuracy and light uniformity for standard and electrification.
Neihai Road 7, Huangtang Industrial Park Plating equipment for semi conductor and large customized dimensions. Applications in Zeitblomstr. 7
Xuxiake Town, Jiangyin, Jiangsu, China solar industry. Turn-key plating lines for crystalline as well as in thin film panels. D-89073 Ulm, Germany
phone +86/510/86877719, fax 86878805 thin-film solar cell manufacturing, Advanced cell testers for laboratory and phone: +49/700/232323-00, fax: - 01
[email protected] metallization on silicon solar cells production facilities and high performance [email protected], www.solar23.com
www.themountmakers.com and on flex foil. cell sorters.
Marconilaan 2 Rue Jaquet-Droz 8 Thin Film Manufacturing Equipment
NL-5151 DR Drunen, Netherlands CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Versolsolar phone +31/416/384384, fax 384300
Leading professional in innovating, phone: +41/32/391-1600, fax -1699
[email protected], www.meco.nl [email protected], www.pasan.ch ATS Automation
designing and manufacturing highly ATS offers over 30 years of experience in
cost-effective PV mounting and tracking Silicon Material factory-wide integration incl. assembly
systems worldwide. Offer one-stop shop WAVELABS and test automation. Our products include
experience, with a wide-range product Copying the sun using LEDs - wet bench, wafer handling, cell sorter,
portfolio and customized service. Elkem Solar WAVELABS stands for laser processing and module automation
51Huanxing Rd, Binjiang Dist. Hangzhou, China Solar grade silicon next-generation solar simulation 730 Fountain St.N,Cambridge N3H 4R7,Canada
phone +86-571-2819-7001, fax 2819-7103 P.O. Box 8040 in production, R+D and certification. phone +1-519-653-6500, fax 519-653-6533
[email protected], www.versolsolar.com N-4675 Kristiansand, Norway LED´s COPY THE SUN. [email protected]
phone +47/380/17000 Markranstädterstr. 1 www.atsautomation.com
R & D, Analysis, Certification [email protected] 04229 Leipzig, Germany
www.elkem.no +49 341 4924 4830, +49 341 4924 4839
[email protected], WWW.WAVELABS.DE Meco Equipment Engineers
PI Berlin AG Software Plating equipment for semi conductor and
PV module consulting, testing, research solar industry. Turn-key plating lines for
IEC 61215, 61646 & 61730 and UL 1703 Storage Systems
thin-film solar cell manufacturing,
ISO 17025, CBTL in IECEE CB scheme. AIS Automation Dresden metallization on silicon solar cells
Joint ventures with PICON (thin film) MES on demand - AIS delivers solutions VULCAN ENERGY – SUN-SINK and on flex foil.
and PI Systems (systems engineering). and services for production control 5 + 10KWH MANAGED STORAGE FOR NEW AND Marconilaan 2
Wrangelstrasse 100 systems designed for solar cell and EXISTING SOLAR PV. PRICED FROM €500/ NL-5151 DR Drunen, Netherlands
D-10997 Berlin, Germany solar module manufacturing (from the KWH. OUR UNITS ARE REVOLUTIONARY IN phone +31/416/384384, fax 384300
phone +49/30/8145264-0 concept to a running fab). EFFICIENCY, LIFESPAN AND SAFETY. DC/DC [email protected], www.meco.nl
[email protected], www.pi-berlin.com Otto-Mohr-Str. 6 VERSION WITH GRID CHARGE OPTIONS:
D-01237 Dresden, Germany 43-45 DOVER DRIVE BURLEIGH HEADS Thin-Film Materials
Raw Materials phone +49/351/2166-0, fax -3000 GOLD COAST, QLD, AUSTRALIA
www.ais-automation.com +61755937773, FAX +61755355951
[email protected] WWW.SUNSINK. ALPHA® PV Technologies
ALPHA® PV Technologies Solar Simulators Alpha, an Alent plc Company, is the
COM.AU
Alpha, an alent plc Company, is the global global leader in soldering interconnect
leader in soldering interconnect technology technology and a leading supplier to the
and a leading supplier to the PV industry System Integrators
ABET-Technologies, Inc. PV industry for cSi and Thin Filmapplications
for cSi and Thin Filmapplications. Manufactures stock custom solar simulators We manufacture soldering fluxes, solder
We manufacture soldering fluxes, solder with illuminated areas from 35 mm to 300 mm Big Solar SA performs, solder pastes and stencils.
performs, solder pastes and stencils. in wattages from 150 W to 3 KW. Member of Bitros Group Contact us regarding your solder
Contact us regarding your solder 168 Old Gate Lane (www.bitros.gr) Panels’ and interconnect challenges.
interconnect challenges. Milford, CT, USA inverters’ dealer, stockholder and 300 Atrium Drive, Somerset,NJ 08873, USA
300 Atrium Drive, Somerset,NJ 08873, USA phone +1/203/540-9990, fax 301-0059 distributor. EPC contractor. phone +1-908-891-3000
phone +1-908-891-3000 www.abet-technologies.com 100 Nato Avenue [email protected]
[email protected] 19300 Aspropyrgos, Greece
phone +30/210/5509000, fax 5596201
All Real Umicore
DOW CORNING CORPORATION [email protected], www.bigsolar.gr
With class AAA large area (> 3 m x 3 m) Ge substrates (space/CPV)
a global supplier of silicon-based materialo steady-state solar simulator-APOLLO, Sputtering targets (ITO, AZO, Si...)
solutions, applies 65+ years of silicone awarded, certificated by TÜV, UL, NIM Laplace System Co., Ltd. Evaporation materials (In, Se, Te)
expertise to PV encapsulants, adhesives, and complete flash solar simulator Development and sale of PV simulation Ag components (poly-silicon prod)
coatings, potting agents and sealants. lineup for HCPV manufacturing. (Solar Pro) measuring software (Solar Recycling targets/CIGS scraps/Ge/Ag
2200 W. Salzburg Road No. 77 Beiling 6th Rd. Luchu Dist., link), various kinds technology Alte Landstrasse 8, Postfach 364
Midland, Michigan USA Kaohsiung City, Taiwan calculation software. LI-9496 Balzers, Liechtenstein
phone +1/989/496-600, fax 695-2054 phone +886/7/6955333, fax 6955606 A-1 Toyozono 2-1 Yawatashinade phone +423/388/7300, Fax 7450
[email protected] [email protected], www.allreal3a.com Yawata City KYOTO 614-8001, Japan [email protected],www.umicore.com
www.dowcorning.com/solar phone: +81/75/9831237, fax 9722218
E-mail: [email protected]
www.lapsys.co.jp

July 2016 77
service | company directory

Wafers & Ingots ReneSola Ltd. Wire Saws & Consumables Washington Mills AS
ReneSola is a leading Chinese manufacturer of produces fine silicon carbide grits for
both monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar cost efficient wire sawing of silicon
Hennecke Systems GmbH wafers. ReneSola seeks continuous Logomatic GmbH wafers. Our state of the art micro grits
Since 1999 we are specialised in innovative improvement in the wafer manufacturing Diamond wire cutting technology. Sapphire ensure maximum output & minimum
measurement technologies and sorting systems process and technical innovation. Silicon. Mono ingot squaring, multi ingot G5/G6 waste to leading wafer producers.
for wafers. Achieving excellence is the result of No.8 Baoqun Road, Yaozhuang, Jiashan, bricking, sapphire, wafering.Low COO. Special N-7300 Orkanger, Norway
our profound and longtime knowledge in the Zhejiang Province, 314117 China cutting for Poly SEED. PV-wafer. Very low phone +47/72/483500, fax 72483501
installation of systems worldwide. phone +86/573/477-3058, fax 477-3063 Diamond wire consumption. [email protected]
Aachener Str. 100, D-53909 Zülpich, Germany [email protected], www.renesola.com Brick polish grinding, low breakage. www.washingtonmills.no
phone +49-2252-9408-01, fax 9408-98 Behringstr. 19a, 63814 Mainaschaff, Germany
www.hennecke-systems.de phone +49/6021/7900-0, fax -50
Umicore [email protected], www.logomatic.de
Ge substrates (space/CPV)
Meyer Burger Ltd. (MB Wafertec) Sputtering targets (ITO, AZO, Si...)
MB Wafertec is the expert in cutting Evaporation materials (In, Se, Te) Meyer Burger Ltd. (MB Wafertec)
technologies for various hard and brittle Ag components (poly-silicon prod) MB Wafertec is the expert in cutting
material and provides integrated system Recycling targets/CIGS scraps/Ge/Ag technologies for various hard and brittle
solutions for the PV Industry. Alte Landstrasse 8, Postfach 364 material and provides integrated system
Schorenstraße 39 LI-9496 Balzers, Liechtenstein solutions for the PV Industry.
CH-3645 Gwatt (Thun), Switzerland phone +423/388/7300, Fax 7450 Schorenstraße 39
phone +41/33/2212100, fax 2212510 [email protected],www.umicore.com CH-3645 Gwatt (Thun), Switzerland
[email protected] phone +41/33/2212100, fax 2212510
www.meyerburger.ch [email protected]
www.meyerburger.ch

fax: +49/30/346 55 46 - 30
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78 July 2016

service | contacts page

»Things really have Ultra-green energy Full steam ahead The perfect module for
changed« p. 32 p. 50 every installation site
p. 8 p. 60

Apollon Solar s.a.s. Center for Electronics and Microtechnology

www.apollonsolar.com (CSEM)
The Keith Group German National Metrology Institute (Physika-
www.csem.ch
www.keith.seas.harvard.edu lisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, PTB)
Aures Solaire
www.ptb.de
www.aures-solaire.com Dyesol Ltd.
www.dyesol.com
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems
Garbo s.r.l.
ISE
www.garbosrl.net Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
www.ise.fraunhofer.de
(EPFL)
GR2L Ltd. www.epfl.ch
www.GR2L.co.uk
IMEC
Project website www.imec.be
http://ecosolar.eu.com/
Korean Research Institute of Chemical Tech-
PVA TePla AG nology (KRICT)
www.pvatepla.com http://english.krict.re.kr/eng/

Sintef Lux Research Inc.

www.sintef.no www.luxresearchinc.com

»Schletter is not about National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

www.nrel.gov
to be reinvented«
p. 36 Oxford Photovoltaics
www.oxfordpv.com

Schletter GmbH
www.schletter.eu

July 2016 79
service | PHOTON International | 10 years ago

Silvery times
The top subjects covered in
PHOTON International 10 years ago

R emember the good times? Not to mention

the »Silvery times«, as was the headline of
our article on profit margins within the solar
contrast to more typical solar energy advertis-
ing, with its omnipresent sun flowers. Indeed,
the movie was an action-packed visual vignette
industry in our July 2006 issue. This issue also with great sound and an exciting story. The film
presented the results of the first study under- shows landscapes from Africa to Europe to the
taken by our newly established consulting unit, Arctic: It’s raining batteries all over the world.
PHOTON Consulting: »Solar Annual 2006 – The batteries – small batteries and large car bat-
The Gun has Gone off«. As a rule of thumb: the teries – are hurtling down to earth. People are
closer the company worked to the raw material, fleeing and glass is shattering. The havoc then
the higher the profit margin. Solar-grade silicon subsides, and information appears: 970 trillion
was being traded on the spot market for an av- kWh of solar energy hit the earth every day.
erage of $150 per kg, and in some cases as much Pause. Good we can’t see it. Pause. Bad we don’t
as $400 – at the time, this was as the same as the use it. Cut.
price for silver, hence the title of the article. The The silicon scarcity fueled fantasies involv-
average factory-gate price for silicon was $55 ing all sorts of production processes to help
per kg – trending upward. save the costly material – namely, all types of
Given these circumstances, module manu- different thin-film solar modules. PHOTON did
facturers were caught between a rock and a extensive research into the question of whether
hard place – they had to deal with ever-in- this would only end up with the industry out
creasing cell prices but couldn’t afford to pass of the frying pan and in the fire. »Taking of the
these prices on to their customers any longer. currently known availability of the rare metal
In July 2006, the PHOTON cover promoted the results Their margin nevertheless reached a worldwide resources needed for these emerging technolo-
of the latest annual solar sector study »Solar Annual average of 5.4 percent in 2006 – from today’s gies, researchers at the University of Houston in
2006 – The Gun has Gone off«. The new consulting point of view, a situation that was not too bad. Texas estimate that »only« around 50 GW of to-
unit founded by PHOTON identified high margins in the In 2006, however, it was one that was providing tal capacity could be produced even if all tellu-
silicon sector of the value chain in particular. a reason for a large number of module manu- rium, indium, and germanium were used solely
facturers to start vertically integrating in order for PV. Needless to say, the solar industry would
to profit from the better margins that could be only have access to a fraction of that quantity
gained over the rest of the value chain. The ex- – not to mention that the price for indium has
cellent prognosis which PHOTON Consulting increased nearly 20-fold in the last four years.«
gave for the years to follow may have provided This means that CIS, CdTe and GaAs/Ge would
encouragement: »The solar sector can bank on not be able to replace traditional silicon cells –
good profits until at least 2008, probably 2010« »Silicon forever«, as the editorial was titled.
Highlights was the conclusion that Michael Rogol and his Although there may have been a window
co-authors arrived at. of opportunity for thin-film at times of silicon
PHOTON International 7/2006 In all honesty, however, the situation for most shortage, progress was nevertheless being made
• The PV industry was making fantas- module manufacturers in 2006 meant this was with silicon solar cells, too. A good example of
tic profits ten years ago – especially like complaining about the price of champagne. this innovativeness was presented by the Ca-
those companies working at the begin- For example, German module manufacturer nadian company Day4 Energy, which had de-
ning of the value chain, according to Solon AG had no problems in hiring one of the veloped an electrode to replace the busbars on
Michael Rogol‘s study »Solar Annual most expensive ad agencies in Germany (Jung the front side of solar cells. Day4 Energy’s cells
2006 – The Gun has Gone Off.« von Matt) to make a movie in the one of the therefore only required contact fingers on the
• A scarcity of silicon was drawing at- most famous film studios in Hollywood with front side. The electrodes that the company de-
tention to alternative technologies, one of the most prestigious art directors in the veloped were then placed over those fingers at a
and an increasing number of compa- world (Joseph Kahn, known for his videos for 90° angle. This improved the efficiency of stan-
nies started constructing production Madonna and U2). dard solar cells by nearly 1 percentage point,
facilities employing these innova- PHOTON met with von Matt’s Carl-Christian with modules made from these cells exhibiting
tions. Berge and Sascha Hanke, who were the mas- an increase in power output of 5 to 10 percent.
• Canadian company Day4 Energy‘s terminds behind the film: »Hollywood – that’s Sounds familiar? The technology was pur-
electrode improved the efficiency of what makes the difference. Steven Spielberg chased by Meyer Burger, and is now being sold
common solar cells by nearly 1 per- was shooting right next door while we were under the brand »smart wire« (with a simi-
centage point. Modules made from there,« Hanke recalled. lar one called »multi busbar« available from
these cells exhibit an increase in And the movie really was exceptional: Al- Schmidt). Ten years after Day4 had this idea,
power output of 5 to 10 percent. though »Hail – the Return of the Sun« was only the technology finally became widespread
around two minutes long, it was an interesting within the solar industry.

80 July 2016

publishing advertisers list
PHOTON International EDITORIAL TEAM ABB������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 59
is published monthly and can be purchased from PHOTON International
GmbH, Germany. A subscription costs €230 a year, first class postage Editorial Staff
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Jochen Siemer js, Philippe Welter pw

Publishing and Editorial Office Managing Editor

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All rights reserved Translations
Emiliano Bellini, Rohan Corby, Cerys Marche

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SecondSol������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 26

Solar Energy Trade Shows�������������������������������������������64-65

UBM India������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 73

July 2016 81
preview | PHOTON International | august 2016

Sitec’s new fluidized bed reactor

The majority of solar-grade silicon is still produced using Siemens re-

actors, though an alternative route using fluidized bed reactors (FBRs)
promises drastically reduced production costs. The FBR process, how-
ever, is still facing tremendous challenges, including the production of
silicon powder – which is then wasted. Sitec GmbH – a part of Centro-
therm Group – is claiming that its new Genesis reactor is able to solve all
of these problems. The company’s »vibrationally fluidized bed reactor«
relies on mechanically induced fluidization instead of hydraulic fluidiza-

SiTec GmbH
tion using hydrogen gas.

Thinner wafer with grip

US-based 1366 Technologies Inc. is now commercializing its »direct

wafering« technology, which allows impressive silicon savings and the
production of thinner wafers. However, as a result of handling difficul-
ties related to thinner wafers, cell manufacturers have been sticking to
their preferred thickness of 180 µm for a number of years now. 1366 is
addressing these concerns with wafers that include a grip – basically a
photon-pictures.com

thicker border for the company’s super-thin wafers. The technology also
allows a gradient for the dopant – and that should help improve cell ef-
ficiencies.

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of topics to be covered in future issues one month in advance, and links to

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Subscribers can download the latest edition of PHOTON International – The our research.
Solar Power Magazine at www.photon.info under »myPHOTON«.
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82 July 2016
 Leading in
Photovoltaics.
Around the Globe.
We launch clean, sustainable technologies off the ground.
With outstanding, ambitious men we make a better future
come true for all mankind.
Meyer Burger knows how to efficiently turn the infinite
power of the sun into electrical energy by spanning the
entire process chain from the wafer through cell production
to the whole solar module.
Meyer Burger’s innovative strength enables tomorrow’s
energy solutions.
www.meyerburger.com

Meyer Burger provided premium technology, which was

used to connect the over 17,000 high-efficient solar
cells to a 269.5 m2 wing panel of the Solar Impulse airplane,
which collects up to 340 kWh of solar energy per day.
© Solar Impulse | Pizzolante | Rezo.ch

www.solarimpulse.com