First Solar associates hold the company’s record breaking 14.4 percent efficient module, manufactured in Perrysburg, Ohio.

The record performance, announced today at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi by First Solar Chief Technology Officer Dave Eaglesham, comes just six months after First Solar leapfrogged the world record for CdTe solar cell efficiency with a mark of 17.3 percent. Both the cell and module record-setters were constructed using commercial-scale manufacturing equipment and materials at the Company’s Perrysburg, Ohio factory. Cell efficiency measures the proportion of light converted to energy in a single solar cell, whereas total area module efficiency measures light conversion across a production-size, multi-cell solar module, providing a more realistic assessment of real-world performance than cell or aperture-area efficiency.

“This considerable achievement supports our module efficiency roadmap and demonstrates our ability to convert our record-cell technology into ongoing module-level improvements,” said Dave Eaglesham, First Solar’s Chief Technology Officer. “These records also underscore the tremendous ongoing potential of CdTe compared to silicon-based technologies.”

First Solar updated its module efficiency roadmap in December 2011 to the increased goal of 14.5-15 percent average efficiency for its production modules by the end of 2015, and the process improvements developed for the record-setting cell and module continue to be implemented as part of that roadmap. The average efficiency of First Solar modules increased from 11.4 percent in 2010 to 11.7 percent in 2011 and is expected to reach 12.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

“Our continuous investment in R&D has enabled the steady progress of our technology, punctuated by landmark achievements such as this,” said Mike Ahearn, Chairman and interim CEO of First Solar. “Our consistent progress gives us confidence in our ability to achieve our roadmap goals, drive down costs and develop sustainable markets.”

First Solar, which has manufactured more than 5 GW of its advanced thin-film modules, utilizes a continuous manufacturing process which transforms a sheet of glass into a complete solar module in less than 2.5 hours, which contributes to the company’s industry-leading energy payback time and the low carbon footprint of systems using First Solar PV modules. First Solar also implemented the industry’s first comprehensive, prefunded solar module collection and recycling program. Anyone wishing to dispose of First Solar modules can request collection at any time, at no additional cost, and First Solar will pick up the modules and recycle up to 90% (by mass) of the material for use in new products, including new solar modules and new glass products.”

Source: First Solar Press Release

Steven Chu

The press release states, “U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced a $50 million investment over two years for the SUNPATH program, aimed to help the nation reclaim its competitive edge in solar manufacturing. SUNPATH, which stands for Scaling Up Nascent PV At Home, represents the second solar Photovoltaic Manufacturing Initiative (PVMI) supporting the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative.

“This investment provides a necessary boost to domestic solar manufacturing businesses, encouraging them to keep jobs here and establish America’s leadership in the world’s growing clean energy economy,” said Secretary Chu. “In addition to invigorating clean energy manufacturing, this program will help achieve the SunShot goal of making unsubsidized utility-scale solar cost-competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade.”

As recently as 1995, the United States maintained a dominant global solar market share, manufacturing 43 percent of the world’s PV panels. In steady decline, U.S. market share shrank to 27 percent by 2000 and to 7 percent by 2010. SUNPATH will help return the United States to the forefront, driving innovation and assuring continued leadership in the 21st century clean energy economy.

PVMI Part II: SUNPATH seeks to increase domestic manufacturing through investments that have sustainable, competitive cost and performance advantages. SUNPATH will help companies with pilot-scale commercial production scale up their manufacturing capabilities, enabling them to overcome a funding gap that often curtails domestic business at a critical stage. By bridging this gap, SUNPATH will help ensure that innovative, low-cost solar technologies are manufactured in the United States.

The PV Manufacturing Initiative accelerates the cost reduction and commercialization of solar technologies by coordinating solutions across industry. The initiative will help create a robust, domestic PV manufacturing base and develop a workforce with the critical skills required to deliver reliable, affordable, clean energy.

PVMI Part I: Advanced Manufacturing Partnerships has resulted in the selection of $110 million in projects to three industry and academic consortia to enable substantial cost reductions in PV module production. To ensure that these technologies are manufactured domestically, PVMI Part II: SUNPATH will support an initial ramp up to high volume manufacturing. DOE’s national laboratories are stepping up their validation facilities to ensure that the technologies developed and manufactured in Parts I and II are tested at scale in multiple locations and climates in the United States.”

Read more: Press Release

Steven Chu

According to the press release, “U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced offers of conditional commitments for loan guarantees, of approximately $4.5 billion, to support three alternating current Cadmium Telluride (Cd-Te) thin film photovoltaic (PV) solar generation facilities.  The Department is offering a conditional commitment for a $680 million loan guarantee to support the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1 project, conditional commitments for partial loan guarantees of $1.88 billion in loans to support the Desert Sunlight project, and conditional commitments for partial loan guarantees of $1.93 billion in loans to support the Topaz Solar project.  First Solar, Inc., with headquarters in Tempe, Arizona, is sponsoring all three projects and will provide Cd-Te thin film solar PV modules for the projects from a new manufacturing plant that has begun construction in Mesa, Arizona, as well as from its recently expanded manufacturing plant in Perrysburg, Ohio, which serves as its primary hub for engineering, research and development.  The company expects that the projects will create a combined 1,400 jobs in California during peak construction.

“These projects will bring immediate jobs to California in addition to hundreds more across the supply chain,” said Secretary Chu.  “Together the projects will power hundreds of thousands of homes with clean, renewable power and increase our global competitiveness in the clean energy economy.”

DOE is offering a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee to AV Solar Ranch 1, LLC to support the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1 project. The 230 megawatt (MW) project will be located in the Antelope Valley area of the Western Mojave Desert, approximately 80 miles north of Los Angeles, California.  The project is expected to generate 350 construction jobs and will feature a utility-scale deployment of innovative inverters with voltage regulation and monitoring technologies that are new to the U.S. market.  The inverters enable the project to provide more stable and continuous power, increasing the efficiency and reliability of large-scale solar power plants greater than 100 MW.  The facility is expected to generate over 622,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, equivalent to powering over 54,000 homes, and will avoid over 350,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.  Power from the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1 project will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric Company.

DOE is offering conditional commitments for partial loan guarantees to Desert Sunlight 250, LLC and Desert Sunlight 300, LLC to support the Desert Sunlight project.  The 550 MW project is expected to generate 550 jobs during construction and will be located on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in eastern Riverside County, California.  The Desert Sunlight project is expected to use 8.8 million Cd-Te thin film solar PV modules, which are commercially proven and have been deployed since 2001.  The facility is expected to generate enough electricity to power over 110,000 homes and will avoid over 735,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.  Project construction will take place in two phases; Phase I will generate 300MW of power, which will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric Company, while Phase II will generate 250 MW of power, which will be sold to Southern California Edison.  The $1.88 billion in loans that are partially guaranteed by DOE will be funded by a syndicate of institutional investors and commercial banks led by lead lender and lender-applicant, Goldman Sachs Lending Partners LLC, which submitted the project under the Financial Institution Partnership Program (FIPP), and Citibank N.A. as co-lead arranger.

DOE is offering conditional commitments for partial loan guarantees to Topaz Solar Farms, LLC to support the Topaz Solar project.  The 550 MW project is expected to generate 500 jobs during construction and will be located in eastern San Luis Obispo County, California.  The Topaz Solar project will use over 8.5 million Cd-Te thin film solar PV modules and is anticipated to generate enough electricity to power approximately 110,000 homes and avoid nearly 725,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.  The project’s power will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric Company.  The $1.93 billion in loans that are partially guaranteed by DOE will be funded by a syndicate of institutional investors and commercial banks led by lead lender and lender-applicant, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc, who submitted the project under the Financial Institution Partnership Program (FIPP).

The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office administers three separate programs:  the Title XVII Section 1703 and Section 1705 loan guarantee programs, and the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program.   The loan guarantee programs support the deployment of commercial technologies along with innovative technologies that avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions, while the ATVM supports the development of advanced vehicle technologies.  Under all three programs, DOE has issued loans, loan guarantees or offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees totaling over $38 billion to support 40 clean energy projects across the U.S.  The program’s 23 generation projects will produce over 32 million megawatt-hours annually, or enough to power over 2.5 million homes.  To date, the program has conditionally committed over $16 billion in loan guarantees to support 15 solar generation projects.  DOE has also conditionally committed financing to support numerous other projects, such as four of the world’s largest solar projects, two geothermal projects, the world’s largest wind farm and the nation’s first new nuclear power plant in three decades.”

Read more: First Solar

Steven Chu

The Record Hill project will avoid over 70,000 tons of carbon pollution annually, equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from over 13,000 passenger vehicles. The wind facility will consist of 22 2.3 megawatt SWT-2.3-93 turbines and new transmission lines to interconnect with Central Maine Power, the local utility. The turbines will be installed with innovative Turbine Load Control (TLC) technology, a system of sensors and processing software that allows the turbines to continue to generate electricity under turbulent conditions, rather than be shut down completely. TLC is also expected to reduce wear-and-tear on the turbines, reduce operation and management costs, and preserve the lifetime of the turbine components.

The Department of Energy, through the Loan Programs Office, has issued loan guarantees or offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees totaling nearly $18 billion to support 20 clean energy projects. The program’s nine generation projects will produce nearly 23 million megawatt-hours, enough to power almost two million homes. Additional DOE-supported projects include two of the world’s largest solar thermal projects, two geothermal projects, the world’s largest wind farm and the nation’s first new nuclear power plant in three decades.”"

Read more: DOE Press Release

“As the world’s largest solar plant of its kind, the Abengoa’s Solana project is playing an important role in creating jobs and clean energy for Arizona as well as fostering innovation in the U.S.,” said Secretary Chu. “As today’s announcement and other recent announcements of completed loan guarantees for wind and solar projects demonstrate, the Department’s loan program is gaining momentum, creating jobs in communities across the country while putting us on the path to a clean energy future.”

“I congratulate Abengoa Solar and the administration for developing public-private opportunities that will create well paying, highly valued jobs for Arizona,” said U.S. Rep. Raul M. Grijalva. “This is yet another example of stimulus funds helping to lead our nation’s and Arizona’s economy back to recovery, while transitioning our energy policies to allow us to become a national and world leader in alternative energy generation.”

Abengoa Solar Inc., the project sponsor, estimates that the Solana project will create between 1,600 to 1,700 new construction jobs and over 60 permanent jobs. The jobs created by the project will be located in Arizona and in neighboring states. To accommodate the project’s need for over 900,000 mirrors, a mirror manufacturing facility will be built outside of Phoenix. As a result, the company anticipates the project will create additional direct investment in Arizona’s economy.

U.S. providers and manufacturers will supply 70 percent of Solana’s components, such as mirrors, receiver tubes, and the heat transfer fluid. Electricity from the project will be sold through a long-term power purchase agreement with Arizona Public Service Company. ”

Read more: US DOE Press Release

Steven Chu

According to the press release, “At the world’s first Clean Energy Ministerial, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that the United States is helping launch more than 10 international clean energy initiatives.  These initiatives will cut energy waste; help deploy smart grid, electric vehicle, and carbon capture technologies; support renewable energy markets; expand access to clean energy resources and jobs; and support women pursuing careers in clean energy.  The new programs offer partners concrete, technical actions to promote economic growth while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.  The initiatives will eliminate the need to build more than 500 mid-sized power plants world-wide in the next 20 years.

“The Clean Energy Ministerial has brought together leaders from around the world to take unprecedented actions to deploy clean energy technologies – from energy efficiency to renewable energy to smart grids to carbon capture.  These steps will promote economic growth, create jobs and cut greenhouse gas emissions,” said Secretary Chu.  “What we’ve seen here is that working together, we can accomplish more, faster, than working alone.”

At this week’s Clean Energy Ministerial in Washington, D.C., countries are launching and joining innovative initiatives to accelerate the global transition to a clean energy and low-carbon future.  Ministers from 24 governments are participating in the two-day Ministerial.  These countries represent more than 80 percent of global energy consumption and a similar percentage of the global market for clean energy technologies.

The United States helped lead the development of several initiatives as part of a Global Energy Efficiency Challenge.  These projects will cut energy waste around the world by deploying super-efficient appliances, improving industrial and building efficiency for large-scale facilities, implementing smart grid technologies, and helping to put millions of electric vehicles on the roads.

Under the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) Initiative, for instance, governments will work with the private sector to transform the global appliance market.  The program will address both ends of the efficiency spectrum – incentivizing the deployment of super-efficient appliances while implementing and enforcing stronger appliance standards that push the most inefficient appliances off the market.  The program will initially focus on televisions and lighting – two globally-traded products that together account for about 15 percent of household electricity use.  Leading experts estimate that international efforts to improve the efficiency of televisions alone could reduce energy use equal to about 80 power plants by 2030.

As part of the Global Energy Efficiency Challenge, governments also joined the U.S. to improve efficiency in the buildings, industrial and vehicles sectors.  The Global Superior Energy Performance (GSEP) Partnership will help large buildings and industrial facilities measure and manage their energy use, which will save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Under this public-private partnership, governments will establish internationally-recognized certification programs to recognize facilities that adopt approved energy management systems and achieve significant and independently validated efficiency improvements over time.  To start, eight companies representing over $600 billion in annual sales and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will pilot the program.

In the transportation sector, the U.S. and other countries are participating in the Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI) to enhance global cooperation on the development and deployment of electric vehicles.  Through sister-city partnerships, high-level discussions, and information-sharing on electric vehicle investments and best practices, EVI will help countries deliver on their respective deployment targets.  According to the International Energy Agency, this initiative will help put participating countries on the path to deploy at least 20 million electric vehicles by 2020 and reduce global oil consumption by approximately one billion barrels over the next decade.

To further accelerate the introduction of electric vehicles, improve the reliability of the electrical system, promote the growth of renewable energy, and help consumers and businesses better measure and lower their energy use, 15 governments also joined the International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN).  This partnership will accelerate the development and deployment of smart electricity grids around the world by facilitating cooperation in key areas, including smart grid policy, regulation and finance; standards policy; technology research, development and demonstration; workforce skills and expertise; and consumer engagement.

Governments also came together to participate in an additional seven initiatives that will support the growing global market for renewable energy and carbon capture technologies; bring solar LED lanterns to more than 10 million of the world’s poorest citizens by 2015; launch virtual Clean Energy Solutions Centers to help developing countries transition to low-carbon technologies; and encourage young women to pursue careers in clean energy.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the United Arab Emirates offered to host the second Clean Energy Ministerial in spring 2011.  The United Kingdom offered to host the third Ministerial at a date to be determined.”

Read more: DOE Press Release

In collaboration with Siemens, the DOE has undertaken an R&D project that will study the performance and effectiveness of land-based turbines. The project will utilize a 2.3 megawatt fan with a 331-foot diameter rotor near Boulder, Colorado. The tests for this large turbine will hopefully user in a future of increased turbine use to the U.S., decreasing the use of brown energy to create electricity. The idea behind engaging in such research is to increase the amount of renewable energy that is fed into the grids of the U.S.. In addition to other forms of green energy, the DOE looks to decrease dependence on brown energy (oil, coal, non-renewable sources) from domestic and foreign suppliers.

The research being conducted is vitally important, thought there are a few difficulties with turbines of such a large design. While the turbines may look lithe, they usually weigh 400-800 tons. Due to this, they can only be installed on certain types of land, limiting their potential effectiveness. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have devoted 5m to the process, while Siemens have contributed 9m to the initial stages of research. The research conducted will test the recent improvements of wind technology, the ability of turbines to sustain potentially destructive weather as well as the amount of noise the spinning blades of the turbine can potentially produce.