Technology and R&D

A new high-performance, flexible copper nanowire, first developed at Duke University in the U.S. last year and now being commercialized at a spin-off company called NanoForge Corporation, may drive down the cost of solar cell production.

Stion has opened a 100 megawatt (MW) thin film manufacturing factory in Hattiesburg, the U.S. Meanwhile, the company has reached 14.1 percent efficiency on its thin film circuits.

New research has indicated that the installed cost of photovoltaic systems in the U.S. “substantially” decreased in 2010 and during the first six months of 2011. For the first time, data is available on utility-scale installed costs trends.

Under a new €30 million government funded project designed to develop a French smart grid, Tenesol will install 500 photovoltaic systems and 250 converters.

Although the adoption of new photovoltaic inverter technologies “strongly” grew in 2010, they accounted for under one percent of overall inverter revenues, according to new research. However, predictions are this market will grow two-fold annually until 2015.

The U.S. non-residential photovoltaic pipeline is sitting at 24 gigawatts (GW), up from 17 GW two months ago, according to new research. The increase is attributed to falling factory gate module prices.

Day4 Energy has signed an agreement with Ever Energy Co. Ltd under which its Day4 DNA photovoltaic cells will be manufactured in Taiwan.

A new joint venture has been set up, in order to produce metal products and other, valuable materials from old photovoltaic modules.

A USD$150 million loan guarantee for 1336 Technologies Inc. has been finalized by U.S. Energy Secretary, Steven Chu for the development of its multicrystalline wafer manufacturing project.

Following Roth & Rau’s announcement yesterday that it achieved 20 percent wafer efficiency, it has now been publicized that it, along with Day4 Energy Inc., has produced a 19.3 percent efficient photovoltaic module.