Comments on: Silicon Valley’s new solar cell companies slipping on delivery dates

By: gee2010

gee2010 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:21:35 +0000

Does anyone know how to create solar cells from scratch…??

By: What companies do solar energy research? | Renewable Energy

What companies do solar energy research? | Renewable Energy — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:31:12 +0000

[...] http://venturebeat.com/2007/06/13/silicon-valleys-new-solar-cell-companies-slipping-on-delivery-date…References : Leave a Comment [...]

By: Roundup: Kleiner Perkins has something up sleeve, new HP circuit may replace your synapses, EA-Land shuts down, and more » VentureBeat

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:17:55 +0000

[...] raised a massive amount of cash, has run into quite a few problems over the last year, including delayed production, employee defections and disappointing cell performance. The latest blow: The loss of a $9 million [...]

By: wiskerbiscuits

wiskerbiscuits — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:17:09 +0000

Back in March 2007 CMEA Ventures and Redpoint both private capital Co. raised the $79m for Solyndra Inc. in Fremont CA. AMAT has a strategic partnership with CMEA they both want a piece of the promising CIGS market; however, b/c CIGS substrates are difficult and costly to produce it is a wait and see approach for investors and leading solar producers.
DSTI can’t get their CIGS manufacturing rejection rate down to a viable level and are going broke doing it. Miasole can’t pull it off either and are laying off staff.
I believe this race will come down to companies like AMAT, HelioVolt, & Nanosolar who have the technology infrastructure background, IP portfolio, & financial resources to scale up the process to commercial afford ability.
This 3rd generation of solar cells coming out of the industry will quickly consolidate to only a hand full of players in less than a decade.
Once the R&D manufacturing phase finishes up then we see who will have the high capacity/low cost CIGS manufacturing capability and the most efficent CIGS solar panel.
In the end; a low cost CIGS collection system that is reliable, scaleable, efficent, and readily available to consumers will grab a good chunk of this market.

By: VentureBeat » Solar CIGS production to pick up — HelioVolt building plant in Austin

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:02:18 +0000

[...] Miasole and Solyndra, have yet to set up their own plants. All of the CIGS makers have run into problems with production, to one extent or another, so it should be interesting to see whether HelioVolt remains on schedule [...]

By: VentureBeat » HelioVolt raises $101M — biggest solar investment yet?

VentureBeat » HelioVolt raises $101M — biggest solar investment yet? — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 05:31:11 +0000

[...] Like these other companies, the six-year-old Heliovolt is using the promising material called Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS), which is much more flexible and cheaper than silicon, the traditional material used in solar cells. One challenge CIGS has faced, however, is the efficiency at which it converts sun into electricity. CIGS has proven efficient in the labs, but in practice it has bedeviled some companies, leading several to delay their plans to hit the market. [...]

By: How long will the PV venture funding boom continue? « from the inside, looking in

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 06:18:28 +0000

[...] but it seems things are not going to plan in the world of thin film solar ventures. Lots of reported management changes, including this latest one, but the money keeps pouring [...]

By: VentureBeat » Solar disappointment: Miasole loses CEO

VentureBeat » Solar disappointment: Miasole loses CEO — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:27:51 +0000

[...] However, the companies haven’t delivered as quickly as expected. Miasole, one of these start-ups, has just seen a casualty as a result: It’s chief executive, David Pearce (pictured top), who had said his company would be making $100 million by the end of this year and might even contemplate an IPO, has been replaced as CEO, reports Michael Kanellos at CNET. The company is nowhere near meeting Pearce’s revenue goal, and its lab results haven’t been that great. [...]

By: VentureBeat » HelioVolt grabs $78M more for solar tech — despite hiccups in CIGS

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:00:23 +0000

[...] Solar cell manufacturer HelioVolt Corp. has raised $78 million in a second round of financing, despite the setbacks seen at a number of other companies using the same “CIGS” technology. [...]

By: steve hsu

steve hsu — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 02:21:05 +0000

Applied Materials Names Chris Eberspacher to Lead Advanced Solar Research and Development

Source: BW
Date: 07/16/07

07/16 18:00 Applied Materials Names Chris Eberspacher to Lead Advanced Solar Research and Development

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 16, 2007–

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) announced today that Dr. Chris Eberspacher has joined the company’s Solar Business Group to lead advanced R&D programs. In this new role, Dr. Eberspacher will lead efforts for both silicon and non-silicon based solar materials and will report to Dr. Winfried Hoffmann, chief technology officer of Applied’s Solar Business Group. Before joining Applied, Dr. Eberspacher was most recently chief scientist at Nanosolar, Inc., a solar start-up focused on roll-to-roll processing of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) products.

“I am pleased to be joining Applied Materials, a world-class manufacturing company uniquely positioned with the expertise, experience and resources necessary to provide the solar industry with the high-volume, low-cost manufacturing infrastructure needed to achieve grid-competitive solar electric power,” said Dr. Eberspacher.

Dr. Eberspacher has a doctorate degree in applied physics from Stanford University and brings 25 years of experience in leading edge solar development to Applied Materials. He is well known for his significant contributions to thin-film solar cell technology, in particular solar cells based on thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS). Dr. Eberspacher began his career at ARCO Solar, which later became Siemens Solar Industries, where he led development teams in crystalline silicon and thin-film solar cell technologies. Most recently, Dr. Eberspacher delivered pioneering contributions to nanoparticle-based thin-film CIGS solar cell technology at Unisun and Nanosolar.

“We are excited to have Chris join the Applied Materials team at a time of great business and technology momentum for our group,” said Charlie Gay, vice president and general manager, Applied Materials Solar Business Group. “He brings a wealth of practical experience in advanced PV technologies that will be critical to delivering next-generation nanomanufacturing innovations that will drive future solar cost reductions.”

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) is the global leader in Nanomanufacturing Technology(TM) solutions with a broad portfolio of innovative equipment, services and software products for the fabrication of semiconductor chips, flat panels, solar photovoltaic cells, flexible electronics and energy efficient glass. At Applied Materials, we apply Nanomanufacturing Technology to improve the way people live. Learn more at http://www.appliedmaterials.com.

CONTACT: Applied Materials, Inc. David Miller, 408.563.9582 (Business) Betty Newboe, 408.563.0647 (Technical) Randy Bane, 408.986.7916 (Investors) SOURCE: Applied Materials, Inc.Copyright Business Wire 2007

(END)

By: SB regular

SB regular — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:46:01 +0000

Concise, well written, informative. Way to go, Matt.

By: Mark Wendman

Mark Wendman — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:58:03 +0000

Back in 2006 I guess I was weatherforcasting a bit, but maybe there was “a grain of silicon” to the purported truths told in my older post. I do think that there will be successes in alternate technologies, but (inexpensive?)low efficiency panels and cell technologies will likely prove marginally viable long term.

Martin Roscheisen talks (?off the record) happily about 12+% efficiency if you ask him about Nanosolar’s CIGS, and hopefully it will prove to be true, but if the resulting efficiencies of some of these efforts remains low, say below 10%, the long term business viability will possibly be questionable.

You also have to add Daystar to the list, as they moved from the valley to the east coast, and now seem to be retrenching back here for further (R?&)D after apparently failing reliability testing and delivering low efficiency (? 8% ) which is truly not very good due to significant increases in hardware and panels etc, to deliver a given power capacity ($/Watt increases significantly with lower efficiency panels)

Even Konarka’s primary thrust into (low efficiency short lifetime) Polymer PV, is presently overshadowed by their implementing with a partner the Gratzel solar cells in a $100m plant in the UK. These roll to roll processed polymer backplane cells deliver ~11+% and seem to have a pathway to 13-14% using a novel change to the dye composition. What remains unclear if even the Gratzel cell efficiencies quoted will be proven out on the production line later.

There are hints in my older article about various challenges, some proven and others displaced by alternate concerns. Even to make good silicon cells is not trivial…

fun stuff this is.