Plansee High Performance Materials has added MoNa sputtering targets with high purity and a uniform and fine-grained microstructure to its product offering. Tests in cooperation with the Swiss EMPA institute have claimed the MoNa targets to be superior to alternative targets. Using Na-doped molybdenum layers, the efficiency of CIGS solar cells are said to have been significantly improved.
Rainwise has recently released the PVmet Solar Energy Efficiency Monitor, a weather station specifically designed to improve accurate monitoring of PV plant performance parameters. The monitoring system is said to be the first weather station to be recognized by SunSpec Alliance for compatibility with industry plant management systems and has already sold 500 units to 2 of the top inverter manufacturers worldwide.
2011 was hardly a vintage year for thin-film solar in the US. Doubts about revenue-ready technologies based on copper, indium, gallium and selenide coalesced around the Solyndra bankruptcy in August. In December, First Solar decided it could not replicate its success in cadmium telluride, and shuttered its CIGS division.
PSE has introduced its new mechanical load test stand for the more realistic and comprehensive determination of mechanical stress from wind and snow loads.
Increasing panel efficiencies and power ratings represents a key deliverable from the PV industry today. These requirements are not simply long-term objectives for the industry as a whole: they are essential at the company level to differentiate leading suppliers within an overcrowded and highly competitive manufacturing environment.
Efficiency enhancements typically require changes in manufacturing process flow and materials (raw and consumable) used in production. Ideally, the technologies that drive these changes will be those featured within a technology roadmap.
Vitronic’s VINSPECsolar electroluminescence inspection system is designed to detect defects within solar cells that could influence electrical performance of the solar module. By using electroluminescence inspection, all defect areas are automatically detected, displayed and classified by relevant software before lamination, so that reworking can increase the module's efficiency. Archived electroluminescence images of the finished module also serve as proof of the delivered quality.
GT Advanced Technologies has announced the commercial availability of its DSS 450 MonoCast crystal growth system. Modules produced from material grown in the furnace are claimed to rival modules that incorporate traditional boron-doped batch CZ monocrystalline wafers in terms of total output. The DSS450 MonoCast furnace incorporates a number of new features that result in ?80% mono volume yield per slabbed ingot and significantly increases Grade I wafers (>90% mono area/wafer) per ingot than other cast mono technologies.
Stäubli Robotics has launched the TP80 fast Picker, an ultrafast four-axis new technology of high-speed pickers for standard pick & place applications, delivering speeds of more than 200 picks per minute and more flexibility at a lower cost, according to the company.
Munich Re has launched a new insurance product that insures against the risk of PV manufacturers' insolvency. It covers the risk borne by commercial and utility-scale PV power plant operators that solar module output may, in the course of time, fall below the level guaranteed by a manufacturer which can no longer be held liable under its warranties due to insolvency.
Not withstanding the tumultuous year for solar cell and thin-film manufacturers, the top-10 rankings for 2011 saw only a few changes in position from 12 months ago. Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers maintained their prominence, securing 8 of the top-10 positions. But the number-one position in 2011 goes to First Solar, the only thin-film manufacturer on the list.
