Mossey Creek Solar, Global Solar Energy, Ferro and Ampulse, the leading developers of solar energy products, have joined hands with the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to develop new solar cell components and technologies through individual cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs).
The $880,000 worth initiative is sponsored by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act via Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of DOE.
Craig Blue, Director of ORNL's Energy Materials Program, has stated that ORNL will support the partnership to address their specific challenges in solar cell development and unveil new opportunities to develop cost-effective solar devices.
Solar cell development includes several areas like crystal creation, uninterrupted thin-film accumulation, thermal annealing, blockade coating, amalgamation and engraving methods and on-line quality assurance systems.
For CRADAs, Mossey Creek Solar is developing cost-effective sophisticated silicon wafers with reduced energy utilization and wastage. Global Solar Energy is creating expandable non-vacuum deposition methods for thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide, which is a direct-bandgap substance for solar cells. Ferro is producing pastes and inks that serve as highly conductive layers in thin-film solar cell operations. Ampulse is building an effective roll-to-roll production method for thin-film silicon deposition. It was reported that for all these efforts, the industry cost share surpasses 50% of the net cost.
ORNL invited project proposals from industries to address major issues based on solar cell production. Projects were chosen after conducting a technical and programmatic evaluation procedure. ORNL is looking forward to finish the projects in another six months.
According to Chad Duty, ORNL Program Manager for Solar Technologies, the projects are focused on offering proof-of-principle for novel initiatives to bring down the cost overhead of solar cell development. He added that ORNL has received a unique chance to join hands with industry and establish a path leading to the future solar energy products.
Source: http://www.ornl.gov