Technology

John Walko
EE Times Europe

LONDON — QuantaSol Ltd., a developer quantum-well based photovoltaic technology and spinoff from Imperial College, London, has developed what it says is the most efficient single junction solar cell manufactured.

Developed in just two years, QuantaSol's single-junction device has been independently tested by Fraunhofer ISE as achieving 28.3 percent efficiency at greater than 500 suns.

"Our technology is the industry's best kept secret. This is the first time that anyone has successfully combined high efficiency with ease of manufacture, historically a bug-bear of the solar cell industry," said Kevin Arthur, QuantaSol's CEO. "We are now gearing up to provide multi-junction cells of even higher efficiencies as early as Q1 2010."

QuantaSol's approach combines several nanostructures, of two or more different alloys, in order to obtain synthetic crystals that overcome the problems associated with current solar cell designs. It also greatly enhances the photovoltaic conversion efficiency.

Last week, the company completed a £2 million second funding round and said it will now concentrate on cutting the cost of ownership of solar energy by moving to multi-junction devices.

Based in Kingston-upon-Thames, England and established in 2007, QuantaSol closed a £1.35 million (about $2.7 million) first round investment in 2007 from Imperial Innovations Group plc, the technology commercialization arm of Imperial College.

Imperial is featuring a QuantaSol device as part of its presence at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition in London this week.

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (President and CEO: Setsuhiro Shimomura) (TOKYO:6503) announced that it has improved its world’s highest conversion efficiency rate for a 150 x 150 millimeter practical-size multi-crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cell by 0.3 points from 18.6 percent to achieve a new world record of 18.9 percent.

Background and Summary of Development

Production volumes of solar, or PV, systems have been increasing as they have garnered attention as a good source of renewable energy, against the background of increased global environmental awareness. While silicon is an essential component in the wafers used to make PV cells, the supply of silicon has not been able to keep up with demand. This is driving research into the development of thinner wafers that not only use less silicon, but also have improved efficiency and increased electrical output.

In addition to the technology already developed by Mitsubishi Electric to improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency rate in multi-crystalline silicon PV cells, the company has developed a new method to efficiently absorb infrared rays in sunlight, thus achieving a new world record of 18.9 percent.

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. today unveiled the innovative solar powered full-touch screen phone “Blue Earth”, alongside Samsung’s vision for environmental sustainability. Under the slogan: “The Blue Earth Dream: Eco-living with SAMSUNG mobile”, Samsung reinforced its commitment to protect the environment through the design of eco-friendly products and a programme of activities for its customers. It will be showcased at Mobile World Congress 2009 for the first time.

Designed to symbolize a flat and well rounded shiny pebble, Blue Earth is the first solar powered full-touch screen phone. By charging with the solar panel located on the back of the phone, users can generate enough electronic power to call anytime anywhere.

YOKOHAMA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The TUV Rheinland Asian Group with Head Quarters located in Japan is proud to announce new testing services for the IEC 61646 Thin Film terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) modules, plus design qualification and type approval. This new service complements both the PV outdoor testing facilities and the Crystalline PV Module competence center already operating.

The Thin Film technology is the latest technological advancement to create environmentally friendly energy and is one of the most essential technologies in the rapidly growing Photovoltaic market.

Furthermore, within the next couple of weeks TUV Rheinland Japan alone will triple its PV testing capacities. The new PV competence center will be part of the TUV Rheinland Group PV network in Asia, Europe and the USA, enabling us to cater to the needs of our worldwide customers.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioSolar, Inc. (OTCBB:BSRC), developer of a breakthrough technology to produce bio-based materials from renewable plant sources that reduce the cost of photovoltaic solar modules, reports that results of testing on BioBacksheet™ samples from the first pre-production runs have been consistent and satisfactory; which gets the company one step closer to full scale commercial production.

The BioBacksheet™, a protective covering for photovoltaic solar cells made from renewable plant sources, rather than the expensive petroleum-based film currently in use, is expected to cost less than traditional petroleum-based backsheets. Backsheets are used in virtually all solar panels.

“Aside from cost and environment-friendly advantages, BioBacksheets™ can now be manufactured in various colors,” said Dr. David Lee, CEO of BioSolar. “This feature will further differentiate BioBacksheet™ from existing petroleum-based backsheets since this is not even an option for them. Photovoltaic module manufacturers often favor color adaptation to maintain aesthetic consistency for their current solar panel.”

BioSolar has been in a pre-production stage for its BioBacksheet™ for the last several months, and has conducted extensive quality control tests on samples of each pre-production run.

“The test covers material properties, mechanical properties, electrical properties, and appearances before and after the long term durability tests which include a 1,000-hour damp heat oven test, simulating more than 20 years of real world extreme conditions,” said Lee.

BioSolar’s backsheet technology was featured in a January edition of the Technology and Business Journal, as well as Energy Weekly News.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolFocus, the leading developer of Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) systems, last Friday announced that it has raised $47.5 million in the first close of its Series C financing and appointed Mark Crowley chief executive officer. SolFocus will use the new funding to accelerate expansion of its manufacturing operations and extend its early base of commercial CPV deployments. The company aims to grow deployments from .5 MW in 2008 to approximately 100MW by the end of 2010.

The round was led by Apex Venture Partners with follow-on investment by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), NGEN Partners and others. The company anticipates a second close later this month.

Mark Crowley, who was named president of SolFocus in August 2008, will assume the role of chief executive officer to guide the company in its transition from small scale demonstration installations to large scale commercialization. The previous CEO and founder, Gary D. Conley, will continue as chairman of the board and help uphold the company’s commitment to innovation.

BERLIN & TRUBBACH, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oerlikon Solar, the world’s leading supplier of thin-film silicon photovoltaic (PV) production equipment, today announced that Inventux Technologies AG is now the world’s first manufacturer to implement Oerlikon’s micromorph® technology for the mass-production of thin-film silicon solar modules. Oerlikon and Inventux ramped up the Berlin facility, which today was officially opened by Major Klaus Wowereit, in just seven months. Oerlikon’s tandem-junction micromorph® process will enable Inventux to produce up to 33 MWp of highly efficient, cost-effective thin-film silicon PV solar modules per year.

“We are extremely happy to have reached this significant breakthrough for the thin-film PV industry with our `best-in-class´ partner Oerlikon Solar,” said Volko Loewenstein, chairman of Inventux. “This experience gives us a great deal of confidence in our plans to expand our micromorph® manufacturing capacity in the near future.”

Oerlikon Solar’s micromorph® process significantly boosts solar cell efficiency by adding a second microcrystalline absorber to the amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer. This layer converts the energy of the red- and near-infrared spectrum, facilitating efficiency increases of up to 50 percent. The micromorph® technology also bolsters overall module power, enabling Inventux and other manufacturers to produce cost-effective thin-film silicon solar modules.

SKOKIE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NanoIntegris, an Illinois-based nanomaterials startup company, announced today that it has begun selling samples of its metallic and semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), which the company has labeled IsoNanotubes, to customers worldwide.

Because of their unique electronic and optical properties, SWCNTs have attracted considerable attention from researchers in the electronics, energy, and biomedical industries over the past several years. Most notably, SWCNTs can behave as either high-mobility conductors or semiconductors, capable of outperforming traditional materials like copper and silicon in applications such as integrated circuits, flat-panel displays, and solar cells.

Limitations in SWCNT manufacturing, however, have long precluded companies from utilizing SWCNTs for serious commercial R&D. "Current SWCNT manufacturing techniques can only generate mixtures of nanotubes that are electronically polydisperse, i.e. that contain both metallic and semiconducting tubes," said Nathan Yoder, NanoIntegris's product development manager. "But electronically polydisperse tubes are unsuitable for many applications. The heterogeneity of commercially available SWCNTs has consequently been a frustrating obstacle for nanotechnology developers."

Despite the demand for electronically pure SWCNTs, attempts to produce uniform metallic and semiconducting nanotubes have met with limited success. "Researchers have been struggling to make SWCNTs of uniform electronic type for over a decade," continued Dr. Yoder. "Although various synthesis and processing techniques have been developed which yield promising results on a laboratory scale, none of these techniques has demonstrated the potential to produce very-high-purity metallic and semiconducting tubes on a large, commercial scale."

NanoIntegris's approach meets this scalability criterion. The company has developed a novel centrifugation process for separating commercially produced, electronically polydisperse SWCNTs by electronic type. "Our process is effective and expandable," stated NanoIntegris's executive vice president Dan Leven. "What is more, the feedback we have received so far from customers regarding the performance of our metallic and semiconducting SWCNTs has been overwhelmingly positive. We are looking forward to working with applications developers to incorporate our IsoNanotubes into future commercial products."

NanoIntegris is a leading supplier of premium carbon nanotubes. The company was spun out of the Hersam Research Group at Northwestern University in early 2007. Its mission is to enable the commercialization of new carbon nanotube applications by providing researchers with materials of the type and purity they require.

6N Silicon Inc has commenced shipments of solar grade polysilicon from the company's new 2,000 tonne/year manufacturing facility in Vaughan, Ontario, satisfying initial scheduled deliveries for 6N’s volume customer contracts.

Primary funding for the new production operation was provided by the company’s $20 million B Financing Round that closed in March of this year. Additional support was provided by the Government of Ontario’s Next Generation of Jobs Fund. Production commenced within six months of the financing, and within four months of securing this pre-existing facility. The last few years have seen large-scale shortages of purified silicon in the solar industry. With this initial production plant, 6N has confirmed its ability to add capacity quickly and at low capital cost. Further production expansions are planned.

The use of standard, pre-existing light-industrial facilities distinguishes the 6N operations from traditional and other alternative purification processes. These new operations demonstrate the compact footprint and low input energy requirements of the 6N process. Development and refinement of the 6N process has been conducted through the company’s three-year EOS Project, supported by the Government of Canada’s Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) and Ontario’s Innovation Development Fund (IDF). The EOS Project is ongoing and remains housed at 6N’s original Mississauga facility.

Paolo Maccario, 6N Silicon CEO, said, “We are proud to have achieved this important milestone. On time and on budget, we have again demonstrated the core advantages of the 6N business and strength of our team. This is an exciting day for us and a promising time for the solar industry.”

6N Founder and CTO, Scott Nichol added, “It is very gratifying to see our vision of an affordable and easily scalable process realized and to see our hard development work pay off with the launch of this full scale production operation. Now that this facility has reached stable production, we can’t wait to add yet more capacity and refine the process even further.”