Chinese Connection – 04-2010
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Empowering rural India
India: Solar energy is beginning to light the lives of tens of millions of Indias energy-poor citizens, said Indias Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the occasion of the inauguration of the countrys National Solar Mission in January 2010. The example of a small indigenous community in Wayanad, Kerala, illustrates how solar power can be an effectively light up the way to development and social change.
Sep 16, 2010
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Cadmium telluride for everyone
Thin film photovoltaics: As the first photovoltaic equipment supplier worldwide, Roth & Rau has developed a turnkey plant for cadmium telluride modules. In cooperation with a Chinese partner, the enterprise is going to build a reference factory in east Germany. Later, Roth & Rau will sell its plant to solar companies and investors outside of the branch. As such the thin film market will be changeable for a long time to come.
Sep 16, 2010
Solar roofs, anyone?
Solar potential: A solar atlas is good not only for climate protection, but also for local business. By measuring roofs with aerial imaging technology, companies determine where exactly photovoltaics arrays make sense. In Germany, mayors and district administrators are vying for a spot on the waiting lists of companies that produce such atlases.
Sep 16, 2010
From a large surface to pinpoint focus
Tracker drives: A crucial component in determining the economic viability of tracker systems are their drives. Only a handful of mechanical engineering companies worldwide, such as GFC AntriebsSysteme GmbH, Coswig, specialize in this field. GFC explains its importance.
Sep 16, 2010
Collaboration on a global scale
China: So far Chinese PV companies have done quite well even without a domestic market. Now, the Solar Roofs plan and the Golden Sun program are causing the home market to develop. But Chinese module makers are further developing their export markets and upscaling vertical production processes.
Sep 16, 2010
Cadmium telluride for everyone
As the first photovoltaic equipment supplier worldwide, Roth & Rau has developed a turnkey plant for cadmium telluride modules. In cooperation with a Chinese partner the enterprise is going to build a reference factory in east Germany. Later, Roth & Rau will sell its plant to solar companies and investors outside of the branch. As such the thin-film market will be changeable for a long time to come.
Sep 16, 2010
The industry is still playing a game of secrecy
Interview: Murphy & Spitz advises investors and manages sizeable investments for them in renewable energies. The company has now released an environmental analysis of manufacturing processes at six PV manufactures. Nicole Vormann, author of the study, sums up the findings: sometimes the companies have serious catching up to do.
Sep 16, 2010
The power of referrals
Marketing: Customers obtained on the strength of a referral are worth their weight in gold. They save solar contractors acquisition costs and usually have definite interest even before the first conversation. But a referral doesnt have to be a lucky break. The solar industry in particular is very well suited for targeted referral marketing, and the method works for small companies completely without advertising slogans.
Sep 16, 2010
Solar industry gets its act together
PV roadmap: The solar industry is coming together to become more competitive. Leading German and European cell manufacturers have formed a Crystalline Cell and Manufacturing Group (CTM), producing a joint PV Roadmap for Crystalline Silicon. The aim is to increase efficiency and cut costs by eight to 14 percent annually, until 2020.
Sep 16, 2010
Father Verspieren preaches the solar gospel
The story of solar electricity: The tenth part of our series with chapters from John Perlins book From Space to Earth tells the story of Dominique Campana, who developed the worlds first PV-powered water pump, and Father Bernard Verspieren, who initiated a PV water pumping program for Mali that became the model for the developing world.
Sep 16, 2010
Problem child on probation
Triple green, part 4: The semiconductor cadmium telluride (CdTe) is highly controversial. But CdTe cells are unbeatably cheap and able to be produced virtually without acids or poisons. Although it sounds paradoxical, their production is much greener than some silicon cell plants.
Sep 16, 2010
Safe solar sunscreen
Silane-free coating: It’s true that solar cells need light to function. But light also causes them to degrade, lowering their efficiencies by between two and six percent in the first few days before they stabilize. Sixtron thinks it has found a solution: a silane-free antireflective coating that costs the same as traditional silane-based coatings, but reduces cells initial degradation in light. If it delivers what is promised, the coating could boost cell efficiencies.
Sep 16, 2010
Collecting seconds
Reducing the cost of inverters: If cost pressure on the industry goes up, inverters also have to get cheaper. Werner Kupka of the Solme Deutschland consultancy explains how video analysis can boost the ergonomics of their final assembly and raise the efficiency by 50 percent of an operation, which makes up almost a third of the value created in inverter production.
Sep 16, 2010
Dual trackers, two opinions
Trackers: Do dual-axis trackers still make sense now that module prices are so low? There is no consensus on this question in the industry. Yet Deger Energy says its sensor-controlled tracking system is more timely than ever. pv magazine spoke with CTO Andreas Schwedhelm and Philipp Steinhöfel, business development manager at Deger Energy in Horb, Germany.
Sep 16, 2010
