Green Tech

1366 Technologies, a spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says it can produce a very efficient solar cell from silicon which will be in the market in two years.

The Lexington, Mass.-based company on Monday plans to disclose the details of its Self-Aligned Cell (SAC) architecture, a set of technologies it has developed to convert 18 percent of sunlight to electricity with polysilicon, the most common solar cell material. Engineers forecast that they will be able to hit 19 percent efficiency in the next nine months without adding significant cost to existing processes, said Ely Sachs, chief technology officer.

In addition, the company expects to announce in coming weeks that a solar manufacturer plans to purchase the machinery 1366 Technologies has developed for making the cells.

The announcement is a validation of 1366 Technologies' technical approach of making incremental improvements to well-established silicon solar cells, rather than seeking out new photovoltaic materials as many other solar start-ups have.

But the company, started in early 2008, has had to shift its business strategy from making solar panels themselves to selling equipment to other manufacturers. The poor financing environment and the intense price pressure on panel makers prompted the company to change course, Sachs said.

"This is a strategic change. We realized that we have very deep, unusually deep, competency in production equipment design," said Sachs. "Also, this is well-suited to doing in the U.S. whereas solar cell making is going to be a harder game to play in the U.S."

The long-term goal is sell to thousands of machines capable of producing more efficient cells to photovoltaic suppliers, he added. With the improvements in cell efficiency, the end product--solar panels--can be cheaper than electricity made from natural gas in the next few years and ultimately coal, he said.

Because of the daunting financing challenges in energy, other green-tech companies, including solar thermal start-up Ausra, have had to shift strategies in an effort to get their technologies to market more quickly.

Trapping more light
There are already silicon solar cells that get higher efficiency than what 1366 Technologies says it can do. SunPower has been selling panels at over 20 percent efficiency for a few years. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech spinoff Suniva late last month said that it could convert more than 18 percent of sunlight to electricity on monocrystalline silicon cells and Chinese provider Suntech has a technology called Pluto which boasts improvements in that range.

But the efficiency rating for the majority of commercially available silicon solar cells is in the 15 percent range. Panels using cells made from alternative materials, such as a combination of copper, indium, gallium, and selenide (CIGS), are lower efficiency--about 9 percent or 10 percent--but are cheaper to produce.

The technologies that 1366 has developed are significant because they can be added onto to existing processes and are complementary with each other, say company executives. Some are related to trapping more light on the solar cell while another uses a different method for wiring cells together.

One technique is to create a three-dimensional pattern, or topography, on the surface on the cells that keeps light on the cell long enough so that more can be absorbed, Sachs explained.

The other process, called surface metallization, shrinks the size of the wires, or "fingers," on the front of cells. Instead of using the typical screen printing method, 1366 Technologies engineers have built a machine that's able to make the silver wires using electroplating and to place them on the cell. Shrinking the fingers from the typical 120 microns to 30 microns reduces shading on the cell and allows manufacturers to put more fingers on a cell to improve performance, Sachs said. The company also expects to be able to replace silver with copper to reduce cost, he added.

"These are three manufacturing technologies and they play together so you can use them all and get the cumulative benefits but you can use just one," he said.

1366 Technologies has already licensed another light-trapping technology where a grooved surface on the back of solar cells reflects light back onto the surface. Earlier this year, the company received a research grant from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory which it is still participating in.

Correction, 12:55 p.m. PDT March 19: Global Solar is not technically a subsidiary of Solon as was suggested by the analyst. According to Global Solar, Solon acquired a 19 percent stake in 2006. The remaining 81 percent is owned by a European venture capital investor.

One year ago, silicon, the most common material used in making solar panels, could not be supplied fast enough. It gave an opening to many new solar tech start-ups looking to pick up venture capitalist interest and cash.

While some technologies may not have been as efficient as traditional silicon solar panels, they had other qualities. Thin-film photovoltaic systems were very popular.

But now with a silicon supply glut that's going to get worse before it gets better, the game has changed. Solar venture capitalists will lean away from innovative technologies toward sure bets closer to commercialization, according to a report released Wednesday by Lux Research.

The report deciphers in company-by-company detail where the solar market stood before the 2008 fourth-quarter crash, and how it's affecting the development of new solar technologies. It predicts where the bottom of the solar market is, who will climb out of it, and when that will start to happen.

Overall, the solar market will go from $36 billion over 5.5 GW (gigawatts) worth of solar panels sold in 2008 to $29 billion over 5.3 GW in 2009, an illustration of the average decrease in price per watt. The silver lining, solar to grid parity and growth to $70 billion across 18.5 GW, will not be seen until 2013.

Investors may still bet on technologies like CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide), but only those under the auspices of a larger established parent company, according to Ted Sullivan, a senior analyst at Lux Research who oversaw the report.

"Nobody really comes out of this unscathed, but those who will be least harmed by this will be companies like First Solar. Even with crystalline silicon prices dropping as far as they are, First Solar is still cost competitive. They may have to reduce (their prices) a little but they still are the formidable," said Sullivan in a phone interview with CNET.

Minor players will collapse, leaving market share for others to pick up and grow.

"Players might get hurt on pricing, but emerge almost stronger from this because a lot of the second- and third-tier competitions will play out," said Sullivan.

Because of the interest from developers and solar installers, CIGS is still a viable solar technology to watch.

CIGS technology will grow from $321 million in revenue this year to $950 million in 2013 despite the fact that many of today's CIGS companies won't be there to see the turn around, according to the report.

Sullivan points to Q-Cells' subsidiary Solibro and Global Solar, which Solon has a stake in, as two CIGS companies that will likely survive because they are warrantable in the sense that they have the backing of strong companies.

Although six months ago suppliers could not keep up with the demand for silicon, makers of both traditional crystalline silicon and thin-film silicon solar panels have huge surpluses of inventory, according to the Lux Research report.

As in many industries, the economic crash of fourth quarter 2008 has left the solar industry with fewer consumers and inventory build-up resulting in a forced drop in prices.

Prices for commercial utilities purchasing solar panel systems, for example, have fallen from roughly $3.80 per watt to as low as $2.50 to $3.10 per watt, according to Lux Research report figures.

"Today, crystalline silicon producers like Suntech Power, Gintech Energy, Motech Industrial, and others are reportedly holding roughly up to 100 MW each in excess inventory, while thin-film silicon producers such as EPV Solar are reportedly stacking modules to the ceiling as storage space runs short," says the report.

Lux Research says that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that it can determine where the bottom is, based on its review and interviews of over 200 solar companies, as well as producers, installers, and project developers.

In crystalline silicon, Lux Research sees Sharp Electronics, Suntech, and Q-Cells in stronger financial positions and, therefore, able to instill faith in its warranties, making them more attractive to buyers. But companies like Yingli and ET Solar will be forced to discount to distract buyers from the perceived risk of an unproven company.

"Most surprising thing for me, within the crystalline, I tried to find the cut-off for those easily viable. People named companies like Yingli....Yingli? The bar was surprisingly high. They named only the best of the best not-bankable companies, which surprised me," said Sullivan.

Green-tech jobs are providing a bloom to Silicon Valley's otherwise barren employment outlook, according to a recently released economic report.

In the high-tech mecca, Silicon Valley jobs dipped 1.3 percent year over year in December. Per capita income fell 0.8 percent last year over the previous period--the first time it had fallen since 2003, according to a report by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network. The two organizations will jointly host the State of the Valley Conference on Friday in San Jose, Calif.

Such results in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan statistical area come at a time when jobs contracted 1.7 percent statewide and 2 percent nationwide during the same period, according to the report.

According to the report:

Until the last quarter of 2008, Silicon Valley seemed to be weathering the global financial crisis and economic recession better than the nation. This is no longer the case. Since November, we have witnessed a spike in job losses and a significant drop in the commercial property markets.

But green-tech jobs have grown 23 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to the report, as venture capital investments in the sector have soared since 2005. Last year alone, venture capital investments in Valley clean-tech companies soared 94 percent over the previous year, the report noted.

And within green tech, jobs involving energy generation, which primarily entails solar system installation, accounted for the largest slice. But in the two-year period spanning 2005 and 2007, jobs involving green buildings climbed 424 percent, transportation rose 140 percent, and advanced materials 54 percent, according to the report.

The report further notes that growth in green-tech jobs may eventually pull the region out of the economic malaise, which has taken out a wide swath of jobs both within Silicon Valley and across the nation:

Today we're racked by the collapse of our nation's financial institutions, a meltdown in the housing markets and a global climate crisis, and yet here too we may already be seeing the seeds of a Valley comeback. It is being driven by our newly emerging "green" economy.

The report further calls on a retraining of the region's workforce to take advantage of this shift and others within the region's high-tech industries.

Over the past decade, for example, Silicon Valley has seen a change in its industry mix from predominately hardware companies to software companies, the report notes.

Imagine a manufacturer that took back its products after 25 years of use.

That's exactly what watchdog group Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition is recommending that the solar industry do in a white paper released on Wednesday. (Click here for PDF.)

Solar is a renewable source of energy, and solar panels don't pollute when they are generating electricity. But the upstream process of making solar panels involves a number of toxic chemicals.

Most solar cells are made out of silicon, the same material embedded in billions of electronic chips. As a result, the burgeoning solar photovoltaics (PV) industry faces an electronic-waste problem.

In its white paper, the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition recommends that manufacturers phase out harmful chemicals while it seeks out more benign materials and develops "environmentally sustainable practices." If the fast-growing solar business doesn't plan ahead, it risks "repeating the mistakes made by the microelectronics industry," according to the coalition.

"The electronics industry's lack of environmental planning and oversight resulted in widespread toxic chemical pollution that caused death and injury to workers and people living in nearby communities. The high-tech industry's legacy now includes the growing global tide of toxic electronic waste, or e-waste," the report says.

A report from China by The Washington Post brought attention to this solar-waste issue to many people for the first time. A reporter visited a village where toxic silicon tetrachloride, a byproduct of silicon cell manufacturing, was dumped, making the land unsuitable for growing and posing a health risk to residents.

The coalition recommends that manufacturers test materials for toxicity before they are used in manufacturing and to step up take-back programs so that materials can be recycled.

By keeping solar panels out of the waste stream, municipalities can eliminate health and environmental risks, such as water contamination. Silicon-based panels typically last 20 to 25 years.

Alternative thin-film solar cells using different materials pose their own health challenges.

For example, First Solar (which has a recycling program), which is considered the cost leader in solar power, makes cells from cadmium telluride. Although the toxicity of the cadmium telluride is not well understood, there is risk of exposure to toxic cadmium compounds during the manufacturing process, according to the report.

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CNET News reporter Martin LaMonica tells CNET News editor Leslie Katz what kind of toxins are produced by solar panels, and what the recommendations are for dealing with them.
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Solar start-up CaliSolar has raised a total of $102 million to go ahead with plans to manufacture solar cells from upgraded metallurgical silicon, according to a report.

Citing a regulatory filing, PEHub reported that CaliSolar has raised almost $52 million in a series B preferred stock funding and $50 million in convertible securities.

Hudson Clean Energy Partners, a private equity firm focused on scaling up energy technology firms, led the funding, according to the report.

CaliSolar, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is seeking to commercialize a technology originally conceived at the University of California at Berkeley to process so-called metallurgical-grade silicon. By upgrading this "dirty" silicon, the company hopes to lower the price of solar cells, most of which today are made from polysilicon.

The challenge with solar cells made from metallurgical silicon is that they are less efficient than polysilicon solar cells. CaliSolar's "crystallization" technology improves the process of making ingots and efficiency of cells, according to the company.

German solar producer Q-Cells, as well as other solar companies, are investing in metallurgical solar cell technology, among other alternative materials to polysilicon.

A surge in demand for polysilicon from solar and chip manufacturers created a silicon shortage that many analysts expect to ease in the next two years. With more silicon available, the cost of polysilicon cells and solar panels is expected to decline.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--To cut greenhouse gas emissions, the United States has to invest equally as much in energy efficiency as in renewable energy technologies, and set a price on carbon dioxide emissions.

That was the message from California Energy Commissioner Arthur Rosenfeld, at a meeting Monday with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) about energy efficiency.

In a keynote speech, Rosenfeld--widely recognized for his contribution to California's aggressive energy-efficiency policies--cited a McKinsey report showing that the potential for greenhouse gas abatement in the U.S. between now and 2030 is evenly divided between investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

His highest policy priority is to toughen energy-efficiency standards for buildings and appliances, which are already updated every three years. Rosenfeld wants to double California's spending on energy-efficiency programs and introduce a carbon tax.

"In California, we have a commitment in Assembly Bill 32 to reduce our carbon footprint by 2020, back to 1990 levels. In order to do that, it's clear that we have to go in for energy efficiency first, and then renewables," Rosenfeld said.

As an example, Rosenfeld mentioned that refrigerator energy efficiency almost quadrupled during the last 30 years, and new refrigerator standards saved the U.S. more than $15 billion in reduced energy costs in 2007.

In a panel discussion following the keynote, Jayant Sathaye, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, emphasized the importance of public policies in promoting energy efficiency globally. He pointed out that in 2003, "sales of CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) were 200,000, but with incentive programs it has raised up to tens of millions."

George Denise, facilities manager at Adobe Systems' green-certified offices, suggested buildings should be equipped with real-time electricity meters. This would be a first step towards smarter grids and appliances that are able to adjust energy usage according to supply (like for instance, air conditioners and refrigerators allowing slightly higher temperatures mid-day when demand peaks).

Another way to save energy in sunny places, is to install so-called cool roofs, consisting of reflective, often white materials, that are good at emitting infrared energy.

Other innovations panelists touted were more cost effective LEDs and technology that not only measures electricity usage--in, for instance, data centers--but also acts upon the info received. When it comes to the latter, the Santa Clara, Calif. based start-up Power Assure is doing just this.

California, Rosenfeld points out, is far ahead the rest of the nation in energy efficiency. The per capita sales of electricity in the state amounts to 7,000 kilowatt hours per year, compared to the U.S. average of 12,000 kilowatt hours. "It's time for the Department of Energy to get into energy efficiency in a more proper way. The last seven years it has done no (energy-efficiency standard) updates, while California has had 22 updates," Rosenfeld said.

The commissioner clearly wasn't impressed with recent federal efforts to boost auto fuel efficiency requirements by 40 percent, to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. "It's pretty unaggressive. In China, every car has to be 33 miles per gallon. EU will hit 60 miles per gallon. This needs to be addressed," Rosenfeld concluded.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Revamping existing data centers can achieve energy efficiency close to those built from scratch to be greener, according to an early report Thursday from Accenture, which analyzed results of case studies backed by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

The energy savings explored, if widespread, could prevent the release of carbon dioxide equivalent to taking 8 million cars off the road, researchers said.

Data center energy use could double by 2011, amounting to $7.4 billion in U.S. electricity costs and requiring the equivalent of 10 new power plants, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Just because you're not (running) a new data center doesn't mean you can sit back," said Teresa Tung, senior researcher at Accenture Technology Labs, which pooled results of studies in which Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and tech heavyweights including Yahoo, Sun, and Oracle collaborated.

Online activity may exist in the cloud, but for each e-mail sent or movie downloaded, a "little puff of carbon" is emitted somewhere on the back-end, as Sun vice president of engineering Subodh Bapat has described.

Projected growth in IT power consumption outpaces that of any other industry, noted Ray Pfeifer, chair of data center efficiency for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which organized a summit at Sun's headquarters, where study results were presented.

"People are saying there are five fuels: coal, nuclear, gas, and oil. But efficiency is the fifth fuel."

--PK Agarwal, CTO for state of California

Many tech leaders fear the sector will suffer from rising energy costs and anticipated California caps on carbon emissions.

Some consider their data center details to be trade secrets, but more are opening up to each other to try to reduce the industry's carbon footprint. Case in point, some say, are the collaborative demonstration projects, which put into practice recommendations on data center efficiency (PDF) presented to Congress in 2007 by the EPA.

New data centers using the suggested technologies could achieve 79 percent infrastructure efficiency, according to Tung of Accenture. Older data centers applying the tweaks weren't far behind at 74 percent efficiency.

A holistic approach to IT transformation can reduce the electrical use of data centers better than individual site improvements, Tung added.

Useful systems included airflow management with variable fan drives and water side economizers. In addition to promoting consolidation and virtualization, researchers underscored the importance of better managing virtual environments.

Standards are needed to improve security and optimize the virtual environment, said David Thompson, chief information officer at Symantec, which he said saved $40 million through consolidating data centers last year.

Sun Microsystems has reduced its number of data centers from a dozen five years ago to seven today, said chief information officer Bob Worrall, adding that he'd like that to drop to three data centers in the next several years.

"People are saying there are five fuels: coal, nuclear, gas, and oil," said PK Agarwal, chief technology officer for the state of California. "But efficiency is the fifth fuel."

The full report of the data center demonstration projects' results is set to become available July 11.

Other data center hosts for the case studies were Symantec, NetApp, Synopsys, the U.S. Post Office, and Digital Realty Trust. Also participating in the research were SynapSense, APC, Cassatt, IBM, Liebert, Modius, Power Assure, PowerSmiths, Rittal, SprayCool, the California Energy Commisison, and PG&E.

Chinese solar panel maker Trina Solar canceled plans to build a plant to make silicon, a move that will no doubt heat up debates over whether the silicon shortage might be coming to a close.

Like a lot of cell and panel makers, Trina laid out plans last year to ramp up production of silicon to help ease the rising prices and supply shortages that have plagued the industry since 2004. Solar panel sales are climbing and there isn't a ton of pure silicon around. The billion dollar plant, slated to begin production in 2012, was announced in December.

The company now says that it has the supplies it needs for now.

"We have made this strategic decision after careful assessment of our raw material requirements, in conjunction with recent and favorable long term polysilicon market and supply condition developments." said Jifan Gao, Trina Solar's CEO in a prepared statement. "Furthermore, we wish to reaffirm our strong working relationship with our partner GT Solar, which continues to provide us with advanced multicrystalline technology platforms to support our target of 350MW of annualized module capacity by the end of 2008."

Some analysts have predicted that supply for silicon solar panels will start to exceed demand in 2009, which in turn will ease the shortage. The reversal in part will come because more factories have come on line, but also because silicon panels will start to face more competition from thin film. Having a brand new factory in 2012 may be a financial burden.

On the other hand, Trina's move might be largely related to internal issues. It's not like the long range forecasts for solar have dramatically altered in four months. In the chip business, companies have done this for years.

Typically, no one worries much with the first cancellation in the chip world, but a second will raise eyebrows. So keep your eyes peeled for a second. That could be the key.

Chinese solar makers have also been engaged in a price war with each other.

6N Silicon, a Canadian start-up that says it has coined a method for producing silicon on the cheap, has secured up to $20 million dollars in second-round funding. The money will be used to pave the way toward mass production.

Getting adequate supplies of silicon has been a challenge for the solar-panel world. A shortage of silicon caused prices of both silicon and solar panels to soar upward in 2004 and the shortage continues. In 2006, solar-panel makers for the first time bought more silicon than chipmakers. Both fields have used the same type of silicon--electronic-grade polycrystalline silicon--which is very pure and expensive to produce.

6N Silicon has found an improved separation technique to make solar-grade silicon that it says uses 10 percent of the energy utilized in the traditional vapor deposition techniques. The equipment costs around one-tenth of that conventional process, according to 6N Silicon, and capacity can be added three times faster than normal, David Dunnison, vice president of business development, said in an interview.

"Our solar-grade silicon will be significantly less expensive to produce," he said. By lowering the cost of the material, 6N Silicon aims for solar energy to reach grid parity. "We can't do it alone, but this will be a substantial contribution."

Leveling the price playing field would make solar energy a competitive alternative for everyone.

The second round of financing was led by Good Energies. By the end of the year, 6N Silicon hopes to have a manufacturing plant in place in Toronto, near its headquarters, and to start production.

The market for solar-grade silicon is $6 billion to $7 billion, according to Dunnison, and is growing quickly. Around 30 companies make silicon in nontraditional ways. Material researchers around the globe are trying to find alternative materials to replace silicon with, since it might become scarce.