TRENDS IN PHOTOVOLTAICS TRACK - Room 20

Session: AN INDUSTRY STATUS REPORT
Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Time: 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Session Chair: Nancy Hartsoch, SolFocus

Session Description: This session will provide a high-level look at major trends in the photovoltaics/solar power field, including how the balance of supply, demand, and inventory is likely to play out in 2011-2012, the continued race to grid parity (which will be more like a “wave” that breaks across electro power markets over a period of years), new innovations aimed at increasing efficiency and reducing cost to improve the $/Watt factor, and various options for utility-scale solar.

Beyond the Grid-Parity Wave
Mohan Narayanan, Solarfun and Greg Buser, Ward Hill Marketing (invited)

Obstacles in PV Manufacturing Technologies and Possible Industrial Solutions
Ahmet Daloglu and Serdar Kaya, Grenergy LLC (invited)

New Innovations in Photovoltaic Systems
David Rainey, PhD, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Mr. Hong Chong-en, China ERA Group

SolFocus CPV - Utility Scale Solar
Nancy Hartsoch, SolFocus

Session: PV AROUND THE WORLD
Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Time: 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Session Chair: Dr. Andrew Skumanich, Solar Vision Consulting
Session Summary: PV production has been increasing by an average of more than 20 percent each year since 2002. This makes it the world’s fastest-growing energy technology. The three leading countries (Germany, Japan and the US) represent nearly 89% of the total worldwide PV installed capacity, but the increased affordability of PV has made it a viable power generating option in many areas of the developing world. This session looks at the status of PV in developing nations around the world – Nepal, Latin America, India, Africa and Pakistan – as well as one of the world superpowers, the U.K.

Addressing a Nation’s Energy Crisis with Solar: The Story of Gham Power in Nepal
Sandeep Giri, Gham Power

Economic Progress in Latin America and the Deployment of New Technology
Albert Rodriguez, Ambient Technologies

Investing in Africa: Renewable Energy Project Financing
Dan Kuipers, Sustainable Energy Financing LLC; Kyle Denning and Dr. David Armstrong, Viability Africa, LLC; 

A Renewable Energy Supply Chain Analysis for the U.K.
Mbulaiteye Kirya, Energy Sector Consult UK LIMITED (invited)

Session: THE “BANKABILITY” OF PV TECHNOLOGIES
Date: Thursday, March 10, 2011
Time: 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Session Chair: Dr. David Dumbleton, ATLAS Materials Testing
Session Co-chair: Mark Thirsk, Linx Consulting

Session Summary: The term “bankability” is often used to describe the likelihood of success of a given PV technology. In these days of scarce capital, the only projects that will be funded are those that banks and insurers have deemed to be fund-worthy. In this session, presenters will look at financing considerations for PV plants, distributed generation projects, the use of tax benefits and financial incentives, the role of patents, and common failure mechanisms.

Construction Financing for Solar Transaction (500KW – 10 MW)
Chris Diaz, Seminole Financial (invited)

Financing Distributed Generation Projects
Marc Roper, Tioga Energy

Shine on Solar Patenting Trends
Victor Cardona, Heslin Rothlinberg (invited)

Common Failure Mechanisms for PV Systems
Dr. David Dumbleton, ATLAS Materials Testing

ADVANCES IN PHOTOVOLTAICS TECHNOLOGY TRACK - Room 21

Session: PV MANUFACTURING
Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Time: 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Session Chair: Joseph Kuitche, TUV Rhineland PT

Session description: Incremental advances have been made in PV over the last several decades, but innovative, transformational breakthroughs are need for PV to become a dominant source of energy. This session looks at new process and device structure technologies being researched and employed for advanced photovoltaics. A new approach for creating single-crystalline-like thin films on various substrates will be presented, as will a new approach to dual screen printing, new ways to
characterize PV modules and optimized grid geometries.

Thin Film III-V PV on Inexpensive Flexible Substrates
Venkat Selvamanickam, Aarthi Sundaram, Akhil Mehrotra and Alex Freundlich, The University of Houston; Dr. Senthil Sambandam, SuperPower (invited)

Front Metallization Grid on PV Cells Using a Dual Stencil Screen
Sergi Palomar, Softon SA.

Electroluminescence and Infrared Imaging of PV Modules
Dr. Rita Ebner and Dr. Shokufeh Zamini, AIT

The Need for 3D Surface Characterization in PV Solar Cell Manufacturing
Andrew Masters and Dr. Erik Novak, Veeco Instruments

Optimized Grid Geometries for Multi-Junctions CPV Solar Cells
Dr. Steven Wallace, Dr. Denis Masson and Dr. Simon Fafard, Cyrium Technologies

Session: ENERGY STORAGE REQUIREMENTS AND TECHNOLOGY – PANEL DISCUSSION
Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Time: 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Session Chair: David Mount, ULVAC Technologies, Inc.
Session Co-chair: Pete Singer, PennWell Co.

Session Summary: Solar energy is a fantastic energy source, but obviously it is only available during daylight hours. To put this important energy source into a form that could make it available around the clock, it must be combined with some mechanisms/devices that could store this energy, for 24-hour availability. The panelists will be prepared to discuss numerous energy storage mechanisms and devices, as well as the current policy developments for energy storage.

• Dr. Roland Pitts, Planar Energy
• Andrew Kinross, Navigant Consulting, Inc.
• Dr. Koukou Suu, ULVAC Technologies

Session: PV SYSTEM LEVEL CONSIDERATIONS
Date: Thursday, March 10, 2011
Time: 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Session Chair: Dan Wishnick, Siemens Industry Inc.

Session Summary: While most of the “buzz” in the PV industry is focused on increasing cell efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs, the ability to reduce cost/Watt most dramatically is often found at the system level. PV systems comprise the cells and panels, the inverters, the cabling, trackers, software monitoring and other elements. This session will examine important considerations in these areas, including the application of thin-film PV for rooftop installations, properly instrumented PV systems, PV mounting systems, the use of benchmarking data, grounding considerations and natural hazard performance testing.

Thin-Film on Top: Beating the Energy Density of Rooftop C-Si Systems
Boris von Bormann, Sulfurcell

The Case for a Properly Instrumented Solar System
Greg Nugent, National Semiconductor (invited)

Structural Design and Cost Savings Potential of PV Mounting Systems
Dr. Wolfgang Fritz, Schletter, Inc.

Closing the Design Circuit with O&M Benchmarking
Matt Denninger and Cathi Baker, Advanced Energy Incustries, Inc. (invited)