First Solar Wins R&D 100 Award for HRVTD Process

Renewable Energy Today, Sept 18, 2003

First Solar recently announced it has won -- in collaboration with the National Center for Photovoltaics, part of the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) -- a 2003 research and development (R&D) 100 Award from R&D Magazine for the development of a high-rate vapor transport deposition (HRVTD) process.

According to the company, its patented process "dramatically lowers the cost of [photovoltaic (PV)] modules since only small, micron amounts of semiconductor material are deposited onto the glass substrate which are then processed through an automated, continuous feed production line." As a result, First Solar said its PV modules "take less time to manufacture than traditional solar technologies and have low raw material and labor costs."

"The cost savings realized by this deposition process is, in some sense, the answer to the widespread utilization of PV modules," said NREL Thin Film Partnership manager Ken Zweibel. "I believe this will help us turn the corner in thin film PV. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen if this technology is fully developed and manufactured in large volume."

Contact: Paula Vaughnn, First Solar, phone 602-414-9322, e-mail pvaughnn@firstsolar.com.

(EIN STAFF: 9/11)

Copyright (c) 2003 by EIN Publishing, Inc.