PV Society Blogs
Earth Abundant PV: A Strategic Priority for Photovoltaics R&D in the United States
Record-setting solar cells tend to edge prior champions by small increments. A few tenths of a percent is considered a big deal. So quite a few eyebrows were raised a couple of weeks ago when IBM announced a 9.6% efficient “kesterite” solar cell fabricated from copper, tin, zinc, selenium and sulfur (CTZSS). The previous record for this class of materials was just 6.8%. By substituti ... More
About this blog
This blog focuses on the development and commercialization of new solar technologies.
Wait! Don’t Pop My Bubble
The annual surges in demand for anything PV (or solar, for that matter) are not indicative of the same sort of business disaster as either the dot-com or the housing bubbles wrought on the stock-buying public. There are, however, troubling similarities nonetheless to both, though not to all parts of either. The internet bubble involved investment in companies that in many cases had no revenue stre ... More
About this blog
Paula Mints, principal analyst for the PV Service Market Research Program, and an associate director at Navigant Consulting Inc., offers perspective on the photovoltaics market and its changing dynamics.
PV Supply Chain Gets Healthy in Q4’09, Euro Depreciation to Affect Q1’10
Preliminary findings from the Q1′10 issue of IMS Research’s PV Supply Chain Health Report indicate that Q4′09 was a strong quarter throughout the PV supply chain as integrators took advantage of low prices, and impending FiT changes caused module, cell, wafer and poly manufacturers to operate at higher utilization levels and enjoy higher margins. These strong results point to ... More
About this blog
This blog focuses on the economics and health of the PV supply chain, examining which layers and business models of the PV supply chain are the healthiest and why. It covers polysilicon, wafer, cell, module, inverter and systems integrators, supply, pricing, demand, government policies and more.
Will PV Markets Be Affected by Climate Change Skepticism and Policy Delays?
In the wake of the somewhat muddled outcome of the COP15 climate change conference in Copenhagen, there has been a growing myopic backlash against years of UN-led climate change findings. Washington, D.C.’s recent record blizzard has stoked further those skeptical voices, who chortle about the irony of Senate hearings on climate change being delayed because of the severe weather in the nati ... More
About this blog
Oerlikon Solar’s Chris O’Brien discusses relevant policy issues -- both national and international -- and how they impact the PV industry.
PV’s Top EHS Concerns
2009 was, in many ways, a “PV production year.” Streamlining processes, seeking smarter ways of supply chain management, and standardizing the obvious cost bottlenecks have contributed much to a more robust production cycle. What we need to talk more about is how we can achieve cost saving objectives without compromising the “green” agenda the PV industry has been proud ... More
About this blog
This blog focuses on the photovoltaics industry from the perspective of SEMI’s PV Group, with Bettina Weiss and other SEMI staff weighing in on such issues as standards, EHS, public policy, market trends, and more.
Utilization Effects on Profitability for Solar Cell Manufacturers
In my first entry in this blog, I noted that the rapid buildup of solar capacity over the last several years has led to utilization levels of 50% for 2007 and 64% for 2008, with our forecast for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 at 41%, 40%, 48% and 65%, respectively. Since that first entry, we have added additional companies to our database as well as making other updates based on newer information. We c ... More
About this blog
Drawing on his company’s Solar Watch database of global solar cell manufacturers, Scotten Jones, president of IC Knowledge, provides insight into the trends in solar fabs around the world.
