Standardization within the PV equipment supply chain remains a challenge, but production trends over the next few years may provide some salvation. Coherent's Finlay Colville presents three scenarios for PV cell production that impact differently on equipment and process standardization, and how the supply chain can play a proactive role.
Researchers at Caltech have devised a flexible solar cell that incorporates silicon wire arrays each acting as a high-efficiency solar cell, which also greatly reduces the amount of silicon material required.
Heinz Kundert from SEMI Europe explains why PV manufacturing equipment should remain excluded from proposed changes to European regulations on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), and calls for industry and government collaboration to fully understand those changes' intended and unintended consequences.
Advanced chemicals and materials used to make PV solar cells and modules continue to establish a foothold, poised to grow to about $14B by 2015, according to an industry analyst.
PV World talks with IBM's David Mitzi about the company's new hybrid approach to thin-film photovoltaics, which solves some key problems in materials performance, and discusses the near-term goal for conversion efficiency at both the cell and module level.
Toshiba is setting its sights on the domestic Japanese home solar system market, signing a third-party US panel supplier to help build the cornerstone of a new residential solar offering.
PV solar installations are expected to soar in 2010, but erosion in average selling prices (ASP) seen in 2009 will continue to squeeze profits and intensify industry competition, according to an industry analyst's report.
In a slump year that still managed 13% growth, the PV industry witnessed a key regional shift in supply that will cause a rethinking of how PV shipments should be analyzed -- thanks to China/Taiwan, where price points for both cells and modules give a distinct advantage, writes Paula Mints from Navigant Consulting.
The UK government's recently announced feed-in tariff (FIT) is a positive step for domestic renewable energy, but lessons learned from US efforts will be key to not only successful implementations but also managing expectations from the start, according to Gartner analysts.
Confluence Solar's decision to build a $200M manufacturing plant in Tennessee is the third major solar power manufacturing investment in the state, and puts it in the forefront of the burgeoning silicon-based solar power industry.
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