Decade of PV Industry R and D Advances in Silicon Module Manufacturing

Conference · Thu Jan 18 00:00:00 EST 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2000.916168· OSTI ID:775889

Symko-Davis, M; Mitchell, R L; Witt, C E; Thomas, H P ^[1]; King, R ^[2]; Ruby, D S ^[3]

---

1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory
2. U.S. Department of Energy
3. Sandia National Laboratories

The US Photovoltaic (PV) industry has made significant technical advances in crystalline silicon (Si) module manufacturing through the PV Manufacturing R and D Project during the past decade. Funded Si technologies in this project have been Czochralski, cast polycrystalline, edge-defined film-fed growth (EFG) ribbon, string ribbon, and Si-film. Specific R and D Si module-manufacturing categories that have shown technical growth and will be discussed are in crystal growth and processing, wafering, cell fabrication, and module manufacturing. These R and D advancements since 1992 have contributed to a 30% decrease in PV manufacturing costs and stimulated a sevenfold increase in PV production capacity.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-99GO10337
• OSTI ID: 775889
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP-520-28928; TRN: AH200112%%386
• Resource Relation: Conference: 28th IEEE PV Specialists Conference, Anchorage, AK (US), 09/17/2000--09/22/2000; Other Information: PBD: 18 Jan 2001
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
CAPACITY
CRYSTAL GROWTH
FABRICATION
MANUFACTURING
SILICON
PHOTOVOLTAICS
PV MANUFACTURING R& D PROJECT
PVMAT
CRYSTALLINE SILICON
R& D ADVANCEMENTS
CRYSTAL GROWTH AND PROCESSING
WAFERS
CELLS
MODULES
COST/CAPACITY ANALYSIS