Cleantech Update

Heliovolt Opened their manufacturing plant in Austin TX on OCtober 24th, 2008, and expects their products to ready for sale in early 2009. HelioVolt’s FASST™ technology produces high-performance solar thin-film with pioneering time and materials efficiencies. 10 to 100 times faster than current processes. 100 times thinner than traditional silicon. Factor in the flexibility of custom shapes and sizes. Plus easy adaptability to multiple construction materials – glass, steel, metal, composites and some polymers. The result? Another industry revolution is born Rapid and revolutionary: Our patented solar “printing” process is a high-speed, large-area method for manufacturing silicon-free thin-film photovoltaics for commercial-scale production. Many times faster than other thin-film technologies, the real advantage of FASST™ is its unique ability to nano-engineer solar thin films. Flexible and customizable: HelioVolt can print directly onto multiple construction materials – glass, steel, m...

Module Manufacturers

The thin-film variants heading for the photovoltaic market Ever new thin-film technologies are moving out of the laboratories into factories. But which one has the most promising future? The amorphous silicon cell, which as yet has by far the highest market share of all thin-film cells? Or the CIS cell of cadmium indium diselenide , favoured by the media in the past ten years? Or maybe the CIGS cell of copper, indium, gallium and selenide, whose conversion efficiency promises to be the highest? Optionally also in the CIGSSe variant with sulphide? Or the micromorphous silicon cell, which is claimed to better the amorphous silicon in efficiency, but is based on the practically infinitely available silicon? At least one thing is clear, and that is that in the thin-film sector, too, silicon will play a large part as a raw material. But with the small quantities of silicon thin-film modules need, the present scarcity is no serious problem. And the fact that silicon is a harmless substance m...

According the The Johanna Solar Website , the owners of the technology: Thin film solar modules are based – as the name suggests – on a wafer-thin semi-conducting absorber layer. Our unique semiconductor made of copper, indium , gallium, sulphur and selenium is just 3 µm thick – half the thickness of a hair and almost one hundred times thinner than a silicon cell. This saves on raw materials. But thin film solar modules also offer further advantages: The conversion of a broader light spectrum means that electricity is generated even under low light conditions. Due to the construction of the cells comparatively high yields can be obtained even under conditions of partial shadow. Due to improved temperature coefficients – which means lower loss of performance at high temperatures – thin film modules are especially suited to temperatures over 25 degrees Celsius. Integrated production – from glass pane to solar moduleIn the first production step, a wafer-thin layer of molybdenum is a...

Johanna Solar Technology of Germany is licensing distribution rights for up to 80% of its CIGSSe (copper indium gallium sulfur selenide) thin-film solar modules to aleo solar [ed. all-lowercase correct], also of Germany. Both firms will cooperate in the product launch: aleo will be responsible for product branding, while Johanna Solar will be responsible for technology branding (products will bear the label “made by Johanna”). The agreement is for at least five years. “This agreement opens up excellent sales perspectives for us, so that we can concentrate fully on the imminent start of production,” said JST’s managing director Jeroen Haberland. aleo is to introduce the prototype of the new module in September at the 22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference in Milan . “We acquired an interest of 19% in Johanna Solar Technology early on [in 2006] in order to ensure our access to this thin film technology,” said Jakobus Smit, chairman of aleo’s management board. Formed in 2001,...