Innovalight and Roth & Rau AG (R8R.DE) announced the completion of a silicon-ink based solar cell production line, which they say is the first in the world. The pilot manufacturing line was installed at Innovalight, in Sunnyvale, California and was qualified to operational capability over the last two months of 2008.
The pilot line combines the qualities and cost benefits of crystal
silicon wafer technology with silicon-ink processing technology
to produce low cost solar cells.
"The potential to lower costs by combining Innovalight’s silicon-ink platform and conventional silicon solar cell technology is very impressive," Dietmar Roth, CEO of Roth & Rau AG, said. "Combining the strength of Roth & Rau’s manufacturing expertise and Innovalight’s silicon nanotechnology has enormous potential in the marketplace."
This first pilot manufacturing platform installed at Innovalight has the capability of producing 10 megawatts (MW) of solar power annually and can be scaled to many hundreds of MW, the companies said.
Konarka is another U.S. company pursuing this promising method of "printing" solar cells.
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