All About Solar | Green Energy News

August 21, 2005 – Vol.10 No.22

All ABOUT SOLAR.

This week’s news...

There’s a new entrant in the solar photovoltaic industry - Fuji Electric Systems. The Japanese company has announced it will make a full-fledged entry into the solar cell business with an investment of up to $93 million (10 billion yen) over the next three years in a new solar products plant in Kumamoto prefecture.

The company will manufacture amorphous silicon, thin-film, solar cells that use an extremely small amount of silicon and need less energy to manufacture than conventional silicon cells, the company says.

According to company documents from 2004, the cells will be about one millimeter thick and weigh about one kilogram per square meter. Fuji, too, will use a plastic film substrate making the cells flexible. Because of the light weight and flexibility of the cells, the company was planning to develop building-integrated solar roofing products. At the time the company also said initial manufacturing rates would equal 3 megawatts per year.

With the global demand for solar products expected to grow by 30 percent per year, the company believes its annual sales will reach $63 million (7 billion yen) by 2009. Fuji makes a wide array of electronic components and end-use devices. Visit them at http://www.fujielectric.co.jp/eng/ .

The 3-megawatt production capacity of the planned Fuji solar cell manufacturing facility is puny compared with what DayStar Technologies envisions - one-gigawatt, or more, per year, per factory.

A white paper published by DayStar outlines how CIGS (copper - indium - gallium - selenium) solar cells and panels could be manufactured, eventually, and with enough investment, for $1.00 per watt. An interim price of $3.00 per watt would be achievable as well in a shorter term.

The plan calls for a fully integrated manufacturing facility along with a close-knit supply chain for raw materials. If the plan has a few stumbling blocks it’s in the supply of Indium, Gallium and Selenium.

The white paper was presented by Dr. John Tuttle, CEO of DayStar at the 20th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition in Barcelona, Spain and is a free PDF download at http://www.daystartech.com/gigawatt

Open for business is the 1.06 megawatt solar system at Butte-Glen Community College in Oroville, California. Installed in a four-acre field, the 5700 solar panels will cut the College’s electric utility bills by a third.

The solar system built by Sun Power and Geothermal Energy cost $7.4 million but half that cost was returned as a rebate from Pacific Gas and Electric (PGE). The rebate was from PGE’s self-generation incentive program which provides financial incentives to help pay for on-site, distributed generation projects. Qualifying systems in the program include wind, solar, fuel cell, microturbine or internal combustion engine cogeneration systems.

The college of 14,500 students estimates it will save $300,000 per year because of the system. Visit Sun Power and Geothermal at http://www.sunpowergeothermal.com/ , PGE at http://www.pge.com and the Butte-Glen Community College at http://www.buttecollege.com/