Solar Technology Innovation Cycles Specific challenge PV technologies

Solar Technology Innovation Cycles § Specific challenge PV technologies are expected to continue to advance, in terms of cell efficiency/m 2, material volume, and resulting material costs. As installed production volume increases it may become increasingly difficult to convert existing manufacturing capability over to the latest PV technology. § Idea for Meeting the Challenge Manufacturing system design based upon technology forecasting § Approach Identify/forecast major PV technology trends, use technology roadmap to guide design of manufacturing systems – optimize flexibility and modularity to maximize forecasted manufacturing equipment life-cycle § What is the Manufacturing Challenge Obsolescence of manufacturing cells due to rapid changes in PV technology.

Reliability of Large Scale Solar Applications § Specific challenge Interconnects are a major cause of PV module failures. As installation sizes increase, the number of interconnects increases reducing installation reliability § Idea for Meeting the Challenge Increased cell (and module) unit sizes can reduce the number of interconnects per m 2 in an installation, potentially improving reliability and reducing module assembly cost § Approach Thin film PV on rolled substrate lends itself to large cell sizes, however today there are manufacturing limitations § What is the Manufacturing Challenge - Production quality (defects/m 2) limits the practical size of single cells - Current thin film production technologies on rolled substrate limit the practical width

Thin Film III-V Materials for Solar Cells § Specific challenge Develop materials that support not only high efficiency photovoltaics, but also high rate manufacturing in support of emerging concentrator solar energy demand. § Idea for Meeting the Challenge Thin Film III-V devices § Approach Develop the ability to produce the most efficient photovoltaics device materials and devices (i. e. , multi-junction III-Vs) within a roll-to-roll system. § What is the Manufacturing Challenge The production device-quality III-V materials, normally produced via organomettalic vapor phase epitaxy on expensive and fragile single crystal substrates, in a thin-film format.