While googling around today I discovered this news that Nanosolar has (after long being talked about) gone into mass production of what will surely be the death of grown crystal wafer solar panels, both as a technology and smash the price of solar panels.
See the article with pictures of the factory!
www.pv-tech.org/news/_a/printed_pv_nanosolar_unveils_640mw_utility-scale_panel_fab_high-efficiency_/
In the above article Nanosolar shows off photos of its new Utility PV production line near Berlin that is fully automated and at full tilt can turn out a panel every 40 seconds... TUV inspectors said it was “a factory unlike any we've ever seen”.
The process is continuous, enabled by the printing of CIGS semiconducting "ink" on a metal film from one roll to another, like printing a newspaper. The rolls are then later cut up into cells and these are made into panels.
The first panels are aimed at utility companies as they are designed for very high voltage strings (up to 1500V) as this keeps the wiring cost down.
Nanosolar's CIGS cell efficiency is confirmed over 16%, completely breaking all expectations from last year of around 6%. This combined with the inherently low manufacturing cost (compared with grown crystal Si panels) means the old wafer panels are soon to be commercially dead in the water.
So... do you buy expensive Si wafer panels now or wait a couple of years for the much cheaper CIGS panels for your roof?
See the article with pictures of the factory!
www.pv-tech.org/news/_a/printed_pv_nanosolar_unveils_640mw_utility-scale_panel_fab_high-efficiency_/
In the above article Nanosolar shows off photos of its new Utility PV production line near Berlin that is fully automated and at full tilt can turn out a panel every 40 seconds... TUV inspectors said it was “a factory unlike any we've ever seen”.
The process is continuous, enabled by the printing of CIGS semiconducting "ink" on a metal film from one roll to another, like printing a newspaper. The rolls are then later cut up into cells and these are made into panels.
The first panels are aimed at utility companies as they are designed for very high voltage strings (up to 1500V) as this keeps the wiring cost down.
Nanosolar's CIGS cell efficiency is confirmed over 16%, completely breaking all expectations from last year of around 6%. This combined with the inherently low manufacturing cost (compared with grown crystal Si panels) means the old wafer panels are soon to be commercially dead in the water.
So... do you buy expensive Si wafer panels now or wait a couple of years for the much cheaper CIGS panels for your roof?
