‘Breakthrough’ manufacturing technology enables more efficient solar cells
Applied Materials has unveiled a new solar photovoltaic cell manufacturing platform, which it claims is capable of producing more than 20 million solar cells per year - at the lowest overall cost per watt of any cell manufacturing system available.
The Baccini Pegaso platform, which was recently selected for use by solar cell manufacturing giant Gintech Energy Corporation, is designed to enable consistently high throughput and high yield. Key to its performance, according to Applied, is its proprietary smart technologies, which are designed to give manufacturers a 'new level' of precision and control.
"The next wave of cost per watt reduction in the solar PV industry will be achieved through major changes in cell technology and manufacturing sophistication to simultaneously improve efficiency and factory output," said Dr Mark Pinto, vp and general manager of Applied's Energy and Environmental Solutions group. "We're honored that a technology leader such as Gintech Energy has chosen the Baccini Pegaso to accelerate its cell efficiency roadmap."
According to Dr Pinto, the Pegaso platform features 'future proof' modular architecture that enables customers to rapidly add modules for additional processing capability. This, he says, can reduce the time, cost and risk of implementing emerging cell technologies, such as advanced back contact and selective emitter schemes.
"We are very impressed with Applied's Baccini Pegaso technology," noted Gintech president Dr Wen-Whe Pan. "The system is producing the highest efficiency cells with the lowest breaking ratio of any cell line in our facility, at high throughput and with consistently high yield."
