crystalline silicon solar

I recently wrote a piece for EnergyBiz Magazine on advancing solar manufacturing technology to enable solar photovoltaic (PV) technology to become a significant part of the global energy portfolio by lowering the cost-per-watt. The following is a brief excerpt from the article.

A curious thing happened in the solar market in 2010. Relatively expensive modules from well-established manufacturers sold well, while less expensive modules from startup firms did not sell as well. Why did developers pay more? Modules from the established firms had demonstrated excellent, predictable energy production over many years. In contrast, startups had not built this data set for their modules. Established firms have the financial strength to replace the modules if they failed. Startups had not yet established this strength.

The President of Applied Materials' Solar division, Dr. Charlie Gay, is featured in a Q&A article in the August issue of the global photovoltaic business magazine, InterPV. The following is a brief except of the article.Applied Materials was founded in 1967 and has since become the leading supplier of manufacturing equipment to the semiconductor, display and more recently, the Photovoltaic (PV) industry. Today, virtually every semiconductor chip and liquid crystal flat panel display in the world is produced using Applied Materials manufacturing equipment.

During yesterday’s earnings call Applied Materials CEO Mike Splinter and CFO George Davis discussed the company’s third quarter results. Overall the company exceeded its third quarter guidance driven by strong results in our semiconductor, display and crystalline silicon solar businesses. A look at our Solar Business Net sales for the Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) segment was $387 million dollars, an increase of 133% and was the third highest booking quarter for EES despite the absence of any thin film orders.

Applied Materials’ Ken MacWilliams, Jen Shu, Andrea Moretto and Farhan Ahmad contributed to an article in the latest issue of Photovoltaics World magazine, where they focus on lower cost crystalline silicon solar panels and their potential to help us reach grid parity -- where the cost to generate power on rooftops meets the cost to purchase power from the grid.  Below is an excerpt from the article: