Solar Ink Gets Siliconized

The word’s out about a revolutionary new solar cell. Chinese solar manufacturer JA Solar Holdings Co. and California-based Innovalight, Inc. are teaming up to develop a new solar cell using Innovalight’s silicon ink technology. Up until this point, the most prominent solar ink we’ve seen was a CIGS solar cell by Nanosolar. Innovalight’s version, however, uses a more traditional solar material: silicon. And apparently, they reap the benefits in efficiency that silicon solar cells hold over newer technologies.According to a press release by JA Solar Holdings, Innovalight has “demonstrated a record 18 percent conversion efficiency using silicon ink technology and conventional silicon wafers.” The test results were verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany.

If the notion of combining new silicon ink technology with conventional silicon wafers reads a bit strange to you, know that you are not alone. By comparison, Nanosolar’s aforementioned ink technology prides itself on easy, printing press-like production and a thinner, sleeker panel. On its website, Innovalight alludes to these types of advantages, yet its first product will be “a marriage of the time-tested crystalline wafer platform with a new silicon processing technique.” They are calling it their “silicon on silicon” solution.The end result, manufactured with the help of JA Solar Holdings in China, will look a lot like a standard photovoltaic panel, but will have a much higher output per panel area. In other words, you’ll have a higher efficiency panel at a lower manufacturing cost. The more efficient panels will also create solar systems that require less hardware, wiring and labor to install.Yet the real question here remains.

If you’ve developed this revolutionary cell with its capacity for “inkjet” manufacturing, why combine it with crystalline silicon wafers to manufacture a slightly more efficient (but otherwise conventional) solar panel? The proof must be in the pudding, and the pudding’s not out yet. According to JA Solar, the two companies plan for initial commercialization in 2010. Until then, this jury is still out on silicon ink.

Posted on September 21st in Solar Products by Dan.