Hardrock69
01-08-2007, 08:36 PM
http://www.nanosolar.com/
First, an article on this new clean power technology, then a history of events at the company up to Dec. 12, 2006:
Thin Film-Solar's Holy Grail
By Steve Christ
Baltimore, MD-The solar power doom and gloomers are at it again. But then again they can't really help themselves. After all, the price of both oil and natural gas both fell sharply last week. And in doing so it gave them a sort of convoluted beachhead from which to roll their eyes at solar.
But what these flat earthers don't seem to understand is that there is actually a bona fide revolution going on in solar power. And it's the kind of revolution that is quickly beginning to disconnect the industry from the chains have that shackled it to the price of a barrel of oil or its equivalent in natural gas.
Now for those of you whose eyes glaze over at the mere mention of solar power, let me tell you this about the new solar: it's not your grandfather's solar and it's certainly not the 70's anymore either.
And no matter how much it may be ingrained into your mind that solar power is just some sort of distortional fantasy, nothing could be further from the truth.
Because not only have the times themselves changed, but they are in the process of being transformed in ways that will alter the way we think about solar forever.
Leading this stunning transformation, as usual is a next generation technology. It's called thin film solar.
It's smaller, cheaper, and more efficient than its silicon based predecessors and it now stands poised to shake the industry from out of its doldrums.
In fact, its emergence in to the market is expected to help the solar industry grow from $11 billion in 2005 to $51 billion in 2015 according to a projection by Clean Edge Inc., a market research firm that is focused on clean technology.
And since those numbers are hardly the types of figures that you can roll your eyes at, numerous companies are working to stake themselves a thin film claim.
Leading the way in this space is Nanosolar Inc., a private Palo Alto company that was founded with a little seed money from the Google guys themselves, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Founded in 2001, Nanosolar recently made the type of an announcement that changes landscapes. In fact, just last June the company announced that they were going to build the world's largest factory for making solar power cells.
And while this announcement may have failed to move some, to the solar power industry, the news was a tsunami. In one fell swoop, the nation's solar manufacturing process would triple, making the U.S. the second largest solar manufacturer. Only the Japanese would be larger.
Even more stunning was capacity of the plant itself. According to Nanosolar's CEO, Martin Roschesien, the plant will turn out enough solar cells each year to generate 430 megawatts. That's enough electricity to power about 325,000 homes.
Once started, the Nanosolar plant will produce a new type of material that will blow away the existing silicon based panels at 1/10 of the cost. And in doing so, this new technology promises to make solar competitive with fossil based fuels- even if those fuels drop drastically in prices.
In short, it is the solar equivalent of the Holy Grail.
All of which makes Nanosolar a true pioneer in their industry. For four years their engineers had been busy working on solar cell prototypes. The pay dirt, Roscheisen says, is that Nanosolar's engineers have created the types solar cell technologies that are now poised to shake the industry from its reliance on costly silicon based panels.
Of course, these revolutionary developments couldn't possibly have come at a better time.
With the Middle East currently in a state of constant turmoil and the price of oil tied to its whims, it looks as though solar's day in the sun may finally have arrived.
"This is a good space", Roscheisen says. "The market is very, very, large."
Venture capitalists seem to agree. Once primarily the realm of an environmental fringe, solar has suddenly become a hot commodity. And the very folks that made fortunes in the 1990's during the internet boom are now among its biggest advocates.
But what made all of this promise possible has been the creation and improvement of thin film technology.
In the course of their work, Nanosolar engineers developed a way to imbed a compound called CIGS into thin polymer films. This metallic compound is the key to the entire process. It contains copper, indium, gallium and selenium. Without these metals the production of these films is impossible.
The important note here is that these films are without silicon, a factor that allows them to be more cheaply produced.
But Nanosolar's news didn't end with the announcement of its record setting factory. Recently the company also announced that it had signed a long term agreement to develop large scale solar power systems with Conergy an experienced worldwide solar contractor.
The agreement prompted this comment from Cameron Moore, regional Head of Conergy Group in North America "We are looking forward to a successful partnership with Nanosolar. With every tenth solar system installed worldwide and an innovative product portfolio, Conergy has established itself as major supplier in the growing photovoltaic market. Conergy's extensive engineering and system competence matches perfectly with Nanosolar's best-in-class technology".
But Nanosolar, of course is not alone. Many other thin film start ups are also competing in the space including Innovalight, Konarka, Miasole and Heliovolt.
Long time solar companies, such BP, Royal Dutch Shell, and Honda are also working to establish themselves as thin film players.
In fact, in February Royal Dutch Shell sold its crystalline silicon business to SolarWorld choosing to concentrate its efforts solely on thin film instead.
Even Applied Material has gotten into the act. The chip maker recently bought Applied Films for $464 million last May as part of its effort to establish a toehold in the emerging technology.
So while some may still have a hard time taking solar seriously in light of falling crude prices, their math may cause them miss the boat. Solar power it now seems is ready to leave the harbor. And when it does it will have little or nothing to do with crude.
Nanosolar Selects Manufacturing Sites
Company Secures 647,000 Square Feet of Space in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Germany
PALO ALTO, California - December 12th, 2006 - Nanosolar Inc., a global leader in solar power innovation, today announced that it has selected manufacturing sites located in California and in Germany. With these two new sites, Nanosolar now has the capability to utilize up to 647,000 square feet for its cell and panel manufacturing as well as research and development and regional company headquarters.
Nanosolar selected a former Cisco manufacturing facility in San Jose, California, as its U.S. site and a facility in the Berlin capital region as its European site. [Photos]
The Mayor of San Jose, the city’s economic development team, and PG&E played a key role in keeping Nanosolar in the state of California and attracting it to San Jose. “We appreciate the enthusiastic support and are deeply grateful for the fantastic support provided,” said Martin Roscheisen, CEO of Nanosolar.
Roscheisen also thanked the Mayor of Luckenwalde, Berlin’s Secretary of Commerce, and the Minister of Economy of the state of Brandenburg for help and support. “We are looking forward to a successful partnership with the region,” said Roscheisen. Luckenwalde is located in Germany’s capital region.
With its proprietary nanoparticle ink and fast roll-printing technology, Nanosolar owns the processes and designs to make solar electricity fundamentally less expensive. Nanosolar is presently building manufacturing operations for its breakthrough solar electricity technology and is on schedule to commence commercial production in 2007.
About Nanosolar
Nanosolar is a global leader in solar power innovation. Nanosolar's solar electricity panels deliver unparalleled cost efficiency, enabling customers to use green power without paying more. More information on Nanosolar is available on the Internet at www.nanosolar.com.
Background:
2001: Martin Roscheisen and Brian Sager intensely research the photovoltaics industry by visiting state-of-the-art solar-cell and module-assembly factories in Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and the United States; by attending conferences and by brainstorming with a broad range of leading PV engineers and scientists world-wide about next-generation possibilities.
May 2002: Nanosolar is founded by Martin Roscheisen and Brian Sager to make solar electricity much more cost-efficient through much better technology. The approach taken is to develop medium-efficient but ten times less costly solar cells -- and do so with a Silicon Valley style team of the best and brightest engineers. The company is incorporated in Palo Alto, California, and receives initial financing from the founders. Initial laboratory work commences forcused on technology to produce much thinner (100x) solar cells with much simpler (printing) processes.
July 2002: Nanosolar adds funding from first external sources: Well-known "angel" investors include the founders of Google and other successful technology companies--for many of which this is the first angel investment in over two years.
Dec 2002: Nanosolar becomes the first solar electricity company in history to receive venture-capital backing from top-tier Sand-Hill-Road venture firms; no blue-chip venture firm had ever funded a solar electricity company before. This happens in the midst of the "nuclear winter" in venture financing and particularly early startup funding.
April 2003: The company leadership decides to focus its roll-printing technology approach on the CIGS absorber and phase out work on other (organic) device technology into a collaboration with Stanford University.
June 2003: Nanosolar confirms a NY Times article that reports its company formation and seed financing.
Dec 2003: A printed-CIGS ink formulation and process is defined that uncompromisingly eliminates the key shortcomings of prior art in printed CIGS and makes the approach scalable to mass manufacturing. More than 60 patents are now filed.
March 2004: Craig Leidholm, a key technologist behind one of the two pioneering printed-CIGS companies, starts with Nanosolar. The company licenses key printed-CIGS patents from Dr. Bulent Basol, Craig's former colleague.
June 2004: Nanosolar is first in history to achieve a key technology milestone: to simply roll-print the semiconductor of a solar cell based on CIGS, i.e. a solar cell that can be as efficient and durable as a conventional silicon cell.
October 2004: Dr. Chris Eberspacher, the former head of R&D of Arco/Shell Solar, and co-founder of Unisun, a pioneer in printed-CIGS technology, joins Nanosolar as its Vice President of Engineering. Nanosolar broadens its intellectual property portfolio by also adding Unisun's assets.[3rd Press Release].
Jan 2005: Werner Dumanski, previously IBM's top manufacturing executive, joins Nanosolar [3rd Press Release].
June 2005: Nanosolar closes $20 million Series B financing, bringing total amount of funding secured to date to $48 million [4th Press Release].
March 2006: Nanosolar's research and development team produces cells with world-record efficiency: the most efficient printed cell ever. NREL certifies these efficiencies achieved.
June 2006: Nanosolar secures $100,000,000 from leading investors. Nanosolar commences with its plans to build a 430MW solar cell factory. [Press Release]
August 2006: Nanosolar and Conergy announce cooperation agreement. [Press Release]
First, an article on this new clean power technology, then a history of events at the company up to Dec. 12, 2006:
Thin Film-Solar's Holy Grail
By Steve Christ
Baltimore, MD-The solar power doom and gloomers are at it again. But then again they can't really help themselves. After all, the price of both oil and natural gas both fell sharply last week. And in doing so it gave them a sort of convoluted beachhead from which to roll their eyes at solar.
But what these flat earthers don't seem to understand is that there is actually a bona fide revolution going on in solar power. And it's the kind of revolution that is quickly beginning to disconnect the industry from the chains have that shackled it to the price of a barrel of oil or its equivalent in natural gas.
Now for those of you whose eyes glaze over at the mere mention of solar power, let me tell you this about the new solar: it's not your grandfather's solar and it's certainly not the 70's anymore either.
And no matter how much it may be ingrained into your mind that solar power is just some sort of distortional fantasy, nothing could be further from the truth.
Because not only have the times themselves changed, but they are in the process of being transformed in ways that will alter the way we think about solar forever.
Leading this stunning transformation, as usual is a next generation technology. It's called thin film solar.
It's smaller, cheaper, and more efficient than its silicon based predecessors and it now stands poised to shake the industry from out of its doldrums.
In fact, its emergence in to the market is expected to help the solar industry grow from $11 billion in 2005 to $51 billion in 2015 according to a projection by Clean Edge Inc., a market research firm that is focused on clean technology.
And since those numbers are hardly the types of figures that you can roll your eyes at, numerous companies are working to stake themselves a thin film claim.
Leading the way in this space is Nanosolar Inc., a private Palo Alto company that was founded with a little seed money from the Google guys themselves, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Founded in 2001, Nanosolar recently made the type of an announcement that changes landscapes. In fact, just last June the company announced that they were going to build the world's largest factory for making solar power cells.
And while this announcement may have failed to move some, to the solar power industry, the news was a tsunami. In one fell swoop, the nation's solar manufacturing process would triple, making the U.S. the second largest solar manufacturer. Only the Japanese would be larger.
Even more stunning was capacity of the plant itself. According to Nanosolar's CEO, Martin Roschesien, the plant will turn out enough solar cells each year to generate 430 megawatts. That's enough electricity to power about 325,000 homes.
Once started, the Nanosolar plant will produce a new type of material that will blow away the existing silicon based panels at 1/10 of the cost. And in doing so, this new technology promises to make solar competitive with fossil based fuels- even if those fuels drop drastically in prices.
In short, it is the solar equivalent of the Holy Grail.
All of which makes Nanosolar a true pioneer in their industry. For four years their engineers had been busy working on solar cell prototypes. The pay dirt, Roscheisen says, is that Nanosolar's engineers have created the types solar cell technologies that are now poised to shake the industry from its reliance on costly silicon based panels.
Of course, these revolutionary developments couldn't possibly have come at a better time.
With the Middle East currently in a state of constant turmoil and the price of oil tied to its whims, it looks as though solar's day in the sun may finally have arrived.
"This is a good space", Roscheisen says. "The market is very, very, large."
Venture capitalists seem to agree. Once primarily the realm of an environmental fringe, solar has suddenly become a hot commodity. And the very folks that made fortunes in the 1990's during the internet boom are now among its biggest advocates.
But what made all of this promise possible has been the creation and improvement of thin film technology.
In the course of their work, Nanosolar engineers developed a way to imbed a compound called CIGS into thin polymer films. This metallic compound is the key to the entire process. It contains copper, indium, gallium and selenium. Without these metals the production of these films is impossible.
The important note here is that these films are without silicon, a factor that allows them to be more cheaply produced.
But Nanosolar's news didn't end with the announcement of its record setting factory. Recently the company also announced that it had signed a long term agreement to develop large scale solar power systems with Conergy an experienced worldwide solar contractor.
The agreement prompted this comment from Cameron Moore, regional Head of Conergy Group in North America "We are looking forward to a successful partnership with Nanosolar. With every tenth solar system installed worldwide and an innovative product portfolio, Conergy has established itself as major supplier in the growing photovoltaic market. Conergy's extensive engineering and system competence matches perfectly with Nanosolar's best-in-class technology".
But Nanosolar, of course is not alone. Many other thin film start ups are also competing in the space including Innovalight, Konarka, Miasole and Heliovolt.
Long time solar companies, such BP, Royal Dutch Shell, and Honda are also working to establish themselves as thin film players.
In fact, in February Royal Dutch Shell sold its crystalline silicon business to SolarWorld choosing to concentrate its efforts solely on thin film instead.
Even Applied Material has gotten into the act. The chip maker recently bought Applied Films for $464 million last May as part of its effort to establish a toehold in the emerging technology.
So while some may still have a hard time taking solar seriously in light of falling crude prices, their math may cause them miss the boat. Solar power it now seems is ready to leave the harbor. And when it does it will have little or nothing to do with crude.
Nanosolar Selects Manufacturing Sites
Company Secures 647,000 Square Feet of Space in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Germany
PALO ALTO, California - December 12th, 2006 - Nanosolar Inc., a global leader in solar power innovation, today announced that it has selected manufacturing sites located in California and in Germany. With these two new sites, Nanosolar now has the capability to utilize up to 647,000 square feet for its cell and panel manufacturing as well as research and development and regional company headquarters.
Nanosolar selected a former Cisco manufacturing facility in San Jose, California, as its U.S. site and a facility in the Berlin capital region as its European site. [Photos]
The Mayor of San Jose, the city’s economic development team, and PG&E played a key role in keeping Nanosolar in the state of California and attracting it to San Jose. “We appreciate the enthusiastic support and are deeply grateful for the fantastic support provided,” said Martin Roscheisen, CEO of Nanosolar.
Roscheisen also thanked the Mayor of Luckenwalde, Berlin’s Secretary of Commerce, and the Minister of Economy of the state of Brandenburg for help and support. “We are looking forward to a successful partnership with the region,” said Roscheisen. Luckenwalde is located in Germany’s capital region.
With its proprietary nanoparticle ink and fast roll-printing technology, Nanosolar owns the processes and designs to make solar electricity fundamentally less expensive. Nanosolar is presently building manufacturing operations for its breakthrough solar electricity technology and is on schedule to commence commercial production in 2007.
About Nanosolar
Nanosolar is a global leader in solar power innovation. Nanosolar's solar electricity panels deliver unparalleled cost efficiency, enabling customers to use green power without paying more. More information on Nanosolar is available on the Internet at www.nanosolar.com.
Background:
2001: Martin Roscheisen and Brian Sager intensely research the photovoltaics industry by visiting state-of-the-art solar-cell and module-assembly factories in Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and the United States; by attending conferences and by brainstorming with a broad range of leading PV engineers and scientists world-wide about next-generation possibilities.
May 2002: Nanosolar is founded by Martin Roscheisen and Brian Sager to make solar electricity much more cost-efficient through much better technology. The approach taken is to develop medium-efficient but ten times less costly solar cells -- and do so with a Silicon Valley style team of the best and brightest engineers. The company is incorporated in Palo Alto, California, and receives initial financing from the founders. Initial laboratory work commences forcused on technology to produce much thinner (100x) solar cells with much simpler (printing) processes.
July 2002: Nanosolar adds funding from first external sources: Well-known "angel" investors include the founders of Google and other successful technology companies--for many of which this is the first angel investment in over two years.
Dec 2002: Nanosolar becomes the first solar electricity company in history to receive venture-capital backing from top-tier Sand-Hill-Road venture firms; no blue-chip venture firm had ever funded a solar electricity company before. This happens in the midst of the "nuclear winter" in venture financing and particularly early startup funding.
April 2003: The company leadership decides to focus its roll-printing technology approach on the CIGS absorber and phase out work on other (organic) device technology into a collaboration with Stanford University.
June 2003: Nanosolar confirms a NY Times article that reports its company formation and seed financing.
Dec 2003: A printed-CIGS ink formulation and process is defined that uncompromisingly eliminates the key shortcomings of prior art in printed CIGS and makes the approach scalable to mass manufacturing. More than 60 patents are now filed.
March 2004: Craig Leidholm, a key technologist behind one of the two pioneering printed-CIGS companies, starts with Nanosolar. The company licenses key printed-CIGS patents from Dr. Bulent Basol, Craig's former colleague.
June 2004: Nanosolar is first in history to achieve a key technology milestone: to simply roll-print the semiconductor of a solar cell based on CIGS, i.e. a solar cell that can be as efficient and durable as a conventional silicon cell.
October 2004: Dr. Chris Eberspacher, the former head of R&D of Arco/Shell Solar, and co-founder of Unisun, a pioneer in printed-CIGS technology, joins Nanosolar as its Vice President of Engineering. Nanosolar broadens its intellectual property portfolio by also adding Unisun's assets.[3rd Press Release].
Jan 2005: Werner Dumanski, previously IBM's top manufacturing executive, joins Nanosolar [3rd Press Release].
June 2005: Nanosolar closes $20 million Series B financing, bringing total amount of funding secured to date to $48 million [4th Press Release].
March 2006: Nanosolar's research and development team produces cells with world-record efficiency: the most efficient printed cell ever. NREL certifies these efficiencies achieved.
June 2006: Nanosolar secures $100,000,000 from leading investors. Nanosolar commences with its plans to build a 430MW solar cell factory. [Press Release]
August 2006: Nanosolar and Conergy announce cooperation agreement. [Press Release]