Intersolar North America continued its long-standing international focus with trade visitors representing 66 countries and exhibiting companies from 26 countries, reflecting the global perspectives of the solar industry. “Intersolar North America’s continued growth over the last three years is an excellent sign for the solar market”, said Markus Elsaesser, CEO of Solar Promotion International GmbH, exhibition and conference organizer. “The discussions and sharing of information that occurred during the week made it clear that the overall global solar industry has a very positive outlook.”

While many attended the exhibition, the Intersolar North America conference and accompanying programs were a key attraction for more than 2,500 attendees. The conference portion featured more than 250 speakers, up from 170 speakers in 2009, who presented at over 30 conference tracks.
From a technical perspective, both Crystalline Silicon tracks provided attendees with a discussion around new technological concepts and processes designed to increase cell efficiency and still lower production costs, as well as presentations on advanced crystalline silicon module and system technologies. Highlights included presentations on ‘The Future of High Efficiency Technology’, ‘High Efficiency and Low Cost – Current Trends and Developments’, and ‘New Frontiers for Low Concentration CPV’.

During the extensive session, ‘Utilities Forum – Policy, Technology, Project Development, Finance and Insurance’, the focus was placed on the issues related to political framework conditions, project execution and financing. Well-known solar professionals from GTM Research, California Center for Sustainable Energy, and California Public Utilities Commission gave talks on  ‘Trends in the U.S. Utility PV Market’, ‘The Value of PV Electricity at Grid-Parity’, and ‘The Role of Cities in Advancing the Adoption of Solar’.

As worldwide solar markets have proven, the solar industry clearly creates jobs. As the U.S. market matures, demand for solar jobs will also increase. The on-site Job & Career Forum was designed to support the growing creation of solar jobs. Throughout the three-day event, the forum was utilized by hundreds of visitors and exhibiting companies.

Throughout Intersolar North America, companies and individual solar professionals were recognized for their innovative achievements at events including the Solar For All Design Contest awards ceremony, Intersolar AWARD Hall of Fame and the NorCal City/County Awards ceremony.
“We are extremely excited about the growth of Intersolar North America”, said Klaus W. Seilnacht, CEO of FMMI and Intersolar North America co-organizer. “As we move forward, we look forward to continuing our partnerships with SEMI PV Group, CALSEIA and others, to provide a place where solar professionals can come together and learn from each other.”

Electricity generation from solar energy and its subsequent feed into the public grid network is comparatively new to Abu Dhabi and ADDC. So as to encourage the growth of solar electricity in Abu Dhabi, a new incentive regime will be set up soon. In the run up to this new legislation, the government wants to gain initial experiences through the Solar Roof Program of Abu Dhabi, a 500 MW pilot project. ADDC has been commissioned with the implementation of this pilot project.

The curriculum of the training of  the ADDC employees included topics such as system design, installation, maintenance, monitoring, and network integration. “The workshop was helpful in skilling our engineers to meet the challenges of the Solar Roof Program, particularly because of its blended mix between theory and practical hands-on training”, said Jürgen Beigel, Senior Project Manager for Abu Dhabi’s Solar Roof Program.

Although the region has very high levels of solar radiation, it also suffers from high humidity, and abundant dust and sand. In the pilot project different PV systems will be tested in order to determine the optimal plant size, selection of components and the installation angle under local conditions.

The ADDC engineers will monitor the installation and undertake the connection to the grid..

Plants for solar module manufacturing have to make use of all means to cut costs effectively. The changing legal aspects on solar feed-in tariffs increase the pressure on quality and costs along the whole manufacturing chain.

Producers of thin-film silicon solar cells have high demands on the performance of the manufacturing plants and the system components within. The new vacuum pump series Dryvac from Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum has been designed to fit and to increase the present and the future technological advantages for these demanding production and process requirements.

This applies also to the operating costs: these dry screw pumps can save up to 3000 euro per year compared to similar pumps with identical suction volume, depending on operating parameters. This helps the producers of thin film silicon solar modules to lower operating costs and increase their profits.

The present market situation has once more increased the demands on plant availability and requirements. Developing the Dryvac, these requirements were taken into consideration, especially with regard to reliability. These pumps are ideal for demanding load lock applications and are resistant against dust, vapors and particles. They effectively pump light gases, but also toxic and corrosive gases such as NF3 gases used in the solar industry to flush coating chambers.

Relevant pump parameters of the Dryvac can be visualized during operation via a touch screen monitor. The i-variants with integrated self-control can communicate via data exchange between pump and plant controls using various interfaces. Of course, the touch-panel can also be used. For pump control, there are multiple sensors such as temperature control with warning functions, and a pressure sensor for monitoring the exhaust pressure. Moreover, the data of the integrated frequency converter can also be visualized.

The Dryvac combines the screw technology pumping principle with a very compact design, offering additional advantages to the customer. In the standard vertical combination with a Ruvac Roots pump, the footprint at the production line is minimized. In addition, the pump combination can be executed horizontally which extremely minimizes the height of the system.

An effective water cooling concept with optimized cooling canal design keeps the pump and motor temperature low and thus enhances lifetime performance. If needed, the motor can be exchanged directly at the production line. Inspection and cleaning of the channels are simple to execute as there are hardly residues due to the innovative cooling channel design. And as a dry pump, there is no risk of oil contamination, which further reduces service and operating costs.

One answer to the various demands of solar manufacturing is the modular design of the Dryvac series, offering customized and effective solutions. Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum not only offers components, but also standardized application oriented solutions, and of course fully customer specific vacuum technology solutions.

Solar energy will only become cost competitive due to intensive technological progress. Decisive factors for further investment into solar technology will be cost and quality. Vacuum technology innovations such as the Dryvac line of Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum combine proven technology with innovative features and therefore contribute effectively to improving production parameters.

The screw pump series Dryvac will be exhibited at the booth of Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum GmbH at the Photon in Stuttgart. (Hall 6, Row: L, Booth: 32).

Qatar Foundation will have a majority shareholding in Qatar Solar Technologies, or QST, a joint venture with SolarWorld AG, one of the world’s largest solar companies. Qatar Foundation’s ownership stake will be 70 percent, and that of SolarWorld 29 percent, with an additional 1 percent in the hands of the Qatar Development Bank.

QST will develop a new plant at Ras Laffan Industrial City, in the north east of Qatar, which will be one of the first operational polysilicon plants in the region. The plant will produce well over 3,500 tonnes per annum and has been designed with future expansion in mind. That would enable it to significantly increase production capacity.

The initial investment in Qatar Solar Technologies is valued at over USD$500m and will provide employment for several hundred people in a wide range of fields.

Qatar Foundation’s first investment in the renewable energy sector supports their strategic objectives to diversify Qatar’s economy, drive high-technology research and development in the country, and promote the Foundation’s financial sustainability. It is also evidence of the commitment of Qatar Foundation and the State of Qatar to addressing the pressing environmental concerns of our day by investing in renewable energy.

The process technology and equipment to produce polysilicon will come from the leading German solar company Centrotherm Photovoltaics AG. Centrotherm Photovoltaics specialises in providing key equipment and services for the solar industry. The contract was awarded immediately after the joint venture announcement.

“Addressing energy needs is a global concern. The generation and storage of renewable energy will be the fastest growing sector in the energy market for the next 20 years”, said Kullman, DuPont Chair and CEO. “We can apply the power of our market-driven science to offer products and technologies that can transform the sun’s potential into clean energy, contributing to decreasing dependence on fossil fuels.”

The Meyrin Photovoltaic Application Lab will operate as an open center, enabling technological exchanges and research collaborations between DuPont and customers, industrial partners, institutes and academia. The lab is designed to advance state-of-the-art solar module design, accelerate time to market in photovoltaic innovation and deliver cost-effective, high-performance solutions for the photovoltaic industry.

“The Energy Battle is a think tank for the energy sector”, says organiser Geertje Dam, new business director of StudentsMedia. “Very often companies have current questions that remain on the shelf due to lack of time. This event provides teams of students who will work all year long on these questions, a huge benefit for companies.”

Students can focus on energy storage, energy transport, bio energy, solar energy, energy consumption patterns, energy rights, sustainable energy and energy policy. The winning teams will be selected with the help of three criteria: novelty, utility and non-obvious of character.

QuantaSol Ltd, the independent designer and manufacturer of strain-balanced quantum-well solar cells, will be speaking at the 2nd annual CPV Summit USA in San Diego on 2nd and 3rd February. At the conference, Dr Tom Tibbits will discuss QuantaSol’s next milestone – the triple-junction cell – covering its development, systems modelling, spectral matching, energy yields and what’s next on the technology roadmap. All aspects will demonstrate that, once commercialised, CPV will be the most cost efficient and most proficient solar energy technology available in areas of high solar resource.

In June last year QuantaSol announced it had developed, in just two years, a single-junction device which achieved 28,3 percent efficiency at greater than 500 suns when independently tested by Fraunhofer ISE, making the company a clear leader in solar cell development.

The 2-day CPV Summit USA brings over 200 CPV industry executives together to take part in exhibiting and demonstrating products. They will also attend conferences focusing on commercial and technical issues which will be led by over 35 other high level speakers from companies.

The knowledge that Dept-Solar and Atama Solar Energy jointly have, provided them with a leading role in developing and implementing the solar-energy projects.

The Belgium company Derbigum is specialised in energy saving and producing roofmaterial.