GE enters Thin Film Solar market with highest efficiency cells, 400 MW factory

[txlibdem]

From the article: GE to build 400MW CdTe thin-film module plant: NREL verifies 12.8% aperture area efficiency

With the acquisition of US-based CdTe thin-film start-up PrimeStar now behind GE, the conglomerate is planning to expand its investments in PV with the building of a 400MW manufacturing plant, potentially bringing its total investment in the sector to over US$600 million. GE also announced that NREL had verified that CdTe thin-film modules from PrimeStar’s 30MW manufacturing line in Arvada, Colorado have achieved 12.8% aperture area efficiency. NREL had transitioned the technology to PrimeStar through a cooperative research and development agreement signed in 2007.

“Milestones like these are pivotal as the United States looks to drive widespread adoption of solar technologies,” said Ryne Raffaelle, director of the National Center for Photovoltaics at NREL. “It’s great to see technology that started at NREL ready to move into the market.”

GE noted that the new plant would be built in the US, but did not provide any further details regarding the site selection timelines, although multiple locations were being considered and a decision would be made ‘shortly.’

“Our plan to open a US solar manufacturing facility further demonstrates our confidence in this technology and is just the first phase in a global, multi-gigawatt roadmap. We’re not only excited by the efficiency milestone, but also by the speed at which our team was able to achieve it and the innovation runway for future improvements in this technology,” added Victor Abate, vice president of GE’s renewable energy business.

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/ge_to_build_400mw_cdte_thin_film_module_plant_nrel_verifies_12.8_aperture_a

GE now joins First Solar and a host of other companies working on thin film solar, but their efficiency is highest of them all.

This from A brief overview by Russ Kanjorski, VP Marketing at Abound Solar

Will Thin Film become one of the most viable solar technologies in the future? Why & when?

RK: CdTe thin-film is already one of the most viable solar technologies in the world. It is the lowest cost technology today, by a wide margin. It also provides superior system performance and attractive LCOEs to PV system owners. Finally, CdTe thin-film is the greenest solar technology with faster energy payback times, lower total greenhouse gas emissions (on a life cycle basis) and less material waste than competing photovoltaic technologies.

How can thin film effectively compete with crystalline silicon and other solar technologies and land more utility scale projects?

RK: Thin-film, particularly CdTe thin-film, has been extremely successful competing with crystalline silicon in the utility scale market segment. Both in Europe and the US, many project developers prefer CdTe thin-film over any other photovoltaic technology, especially for utility scale projects where CdTe’s advantages of low system cost and high LCOE are paramount. This trend should continue into the future.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/partner/first-conferences/news/article/2010/11/why-cdte-is-one-of-the-most-viable-thin-film-pv-technologies

Technical details of GE's CdTe thin film solar panels:

Clearly, this is the time for the big boys to enter the game, if they hope to play in it at all. GE says it will challenge First Solar in the utility market next year with a design that boasts 16.5 percent efficiency in small cells—a record for CdTe technology. Part of GE’s trick is to rely more heavily on cadmium than previous designs have been able to manage.

In a conventional CdTe cell, the layers are deposited on a glass sheet, which is flipped over to face the sun. First comes a transparent metal-oxide layer that will form the cell’s top electrode. Next up are the layers—cadmium sulfide, followed by cadmium telluride—that form the p- and n-type semiconductors, whose junction forms the cell’s active, energy-converting region. A coating of silver forms the bottom electrode.

In the GE design, the top electrode consists not of a layer of tin oxide, as in conventional cells, but of a relatively thick layer made of a cadmium-tin oxide called cadmium stannate, plus a thinner layer of zinc-tin oxide. The electrode is therefore more conductive and more transparent.

Observers say GE and other would-be CdTe entrants will need to improve their cells’ performance. First Solar has driven its module cost per watt down 30 percent over the past two years, and it’s planning to cut costs a further 26 to 39 percent by 2014.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/solar/ge-warms-up-to-cadmium-solar-cells

Note the last paragraph: First Solar is bringing its module costs down which shows that GE will have a worthy competitor.

[LiberalLoner]

1. I'm so glad to hear of these advances and hope that it will lead to

both solar power becoming more affordable and useful and I also hope very much that it will lead to many good-paying jobs for Americans.

[txlibdem]

5. I'm glad that the technology won't end up in an oil company's hands (to be put on back burner)

Now that a company the size of GE has entered the solar arena, the costs will go down and the pace of advancement should increase.

[Old and In the Way]

2. Isn't Cadmium a RoHS no-no?

I thought that element was banned for use in products in Europe...I know Cadmium is not used in most manufacturing/finishing processes anymore.

[izquierdista]

3. For platings and paints, yes

In solar cells, the Cd would stay put until the cell was no longer usable and was scrapped. Then, if environmental regulations were followed, :rofl: the Cd could be reclaimed. In that way, it would be in the same class as other recyclable products containing elements like Pb, Hg, etc.

I hope there is a well-funded EPA monitoring the environment around where this plant will be located.

[txlibdem]

4. CdTe is Cadmium Telluride and is not nearly as bad

PS, please don't look up the chemicals in your toothpaste. If solar cells scare you...

[jberryhill]

6. Still toxic, though - imagine rooftop PV installations in Joplin, MO

...or everyday house fires.

[Throckmorton]

7. OK, lets be scared of everything

One more dangerous component along thousand other dangerous things already there in building fire smoke.

[jberryhill]

8. Did I say that? No.

All risk is relative. Pronouncements of "no risk" are just as stupid as reflexive fear of risk.

Substituting one variety of idiocy for another is not an improvement.

[txlibdem]

9. Advice: look into the chemicals in your toothpaste

Plastic items in your house will produce about a million times more toxic smoke during a house fire, including the couch cushions, plates, cups/glasses, etc.