Another Japanese company, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., is making a major foray into the PV solar market according to their press release earlier this week:
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. plans to enter the solar power market on a major scale, based on a significant advance in its solar-cell technology and a growing demand for renewable energy sources. Officials said over the weekend that the Tokyo-based company had developed solar panels that are 50 percent more efficient than its current models.
In 2004, Mitsubishi panels accounted for about 1 percent of the world's solar power capacity of around 1,200 megawatts. It now aims to supply 5 percent of the capacity within 10 years.
The boost in production will start as early as next year at a factory to be built in the compound of the company's Nagasaki shipyard, officials said. Tens of billions of yen will be invested in the project, they added.
Mitsubishi researchers developed a thin membrane that can use a broader spectrum in the wavelength of solar light to generate electricity. As a result, the efficiency rate for solar energy conversion was raised to 12 percent from the current model's 8 percent. Mitsubishi officials also said that the cost for manufacturing the new solar panels will be about half that of rival companies.
For Mitsubishi to realize its plan to produce 5 percent of the world's solar power capacity within 10 years, the new factory will have to manufacture at least 300 megawatts of capacity a year. That amount of energy can supply the electricity for 100,000 households.
In 2004, Sharp Corp., based in Osaka, was the top manufacturer of solar panels, accounting for an estimated 27 percent of world capacity. It was followed by Kyocera Corp., based in Kyoto, with 9 percent.
Japanese companies account for more than 50 percent of solar power generating capacity installed worldwide. (IHT/Asahi: January 10,2006)
This follows close on the heels of Honda's announcement to enter the solar business in December. There has also been a lot of publicity lately about the continuing silicon shortage. Honda has avoided this by using CIGS technology. According to this earlier publication Mitsubishi has been developing a thin-film amorphous silicon tandem cell, which doesn't eliminate silicon, but reduces the amount used significantly. Ovonics manufactures a triple junction thin-film amorphous solar cell product that may be similar. It appears to me that within two years thin-film technology will account for a much more significant share of the market than the 10% share that they had in 2004.
Technorati tags: solar, solar power, energy, technology
amazing news, It was about time that the most important companies in the world start to make something about the environment
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