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Applied Materials SunFab™
For decades, the solar industry has remained a niche solution to satisfying global electrical requirements -around 0.1% - primarily due to cost. Cost, in comparison to conventional electricity provided to the grid, has been the limiting factor for the growth of this industry. The Applied Materials SunFab™ Line offers customers a proven production solution to manufacture photovoltaic modules, profitably, at the lowest cost per watt thereby providing electricity at prices comparable to traditional sources of energy. By manufacturing on substrate sizes up to 5.7m2 , the SunFab Line offers an innovative way to lower production costs and installation costs. This combination of low cost advantages will open the market to rapid expansion by moving solar from a niche solution to an economically viable alternative to traditional electricity and Applied Materials is well positioned as an equipment leader to enable this transformation.
DESCRIPTION
The SunFab™ production line is a thin film photovoltaic module fabrication line which produces solar modules on a substrate size up to 5.7m2 - the world's largest solar substrate. The line is capable of producing approximately 600,000 114 sized modules (101m x 1.3m) or 150,000 full sized modules (2.2m x 2.6m) per year.
TCO coated glass enters the line, and then proceeds through multiple processing steps including:
- Laser scribing to form individual cells
- PECVD deposition to build the active layers that convert sunlight to electricity
- PVD deposition to form the metal back contact that will transfer the electrical current to a buss-line and then to a junction box on the backside of the module
- Shunt removal that increases power output of the module by eliminating impurities inline with the electrical circuit
- Lamination that encapsulates the module protecting it from the environment
- Solar simulation testing that measures the power output of the module.
All of these steps can be performed in as little as 8 hours and are performed on a substrate size of 5.7m 2
INNOVATIVE ASPECT
For utility scale and commercial installations, installers typically preassemble a group of modules to a mounting structure and then transport and integrate this structure into their system. However, modules manufactured by Applied's SunFab production line improve upon this methodology. By manufacturing on a 5.7m2 substrate size (4x the industry standard), the module can assembled in the factory as part of the production process which eliminates the need for preassembly offsite. This innovation lowers the cost of electrical connection, junction boxes and labor required to preassemble and install solar modules.
The SunFab™ module also comes with a bonded rail mounting structure that replaces the vertical mounting structure used in the field. By attaching this rail during manufacturing we eliminate the framing, clamping and insulation process steps typically required for modules. We are essentially bonding the module to the structure with low cost adhesives rather than using more expensive frames and clamps.
The SunFab™ thin film production line will revolutionize the solar industry by making solar a mainstream reality. The SunFab line is a combination of innovative and scalable technologies and processes. With this line, customers will be able to manufacture, on a meaningful scale, a low cost module that economically competes with current electricity generation in wide use today.
BENEFITS
1 MWh of electricity produced by solar reduces emissions by around 8 pounds of S02, 5 pounds of NxOy, and more than 1400 pounds of CO2 (What is the Energy Payback for PV, NREL, Dec 2004). Installed in optimal locations, a typical SunFab module rated at 515Wp (9% efficiency) will produce nearly 1MWh of electricity per year. Our factories have the capability to output over 112 million panels every year that will each yield valuable electricity for over 25 years. All together, a single factory is responsible for reducing CO2 emissions by nearly 20 million tons per year of production.
These modules can be manufactured at costs rapidly approaching $l/Wp. When you combine this low cost of production with the installation advantages of large sized modules, the SunFab line is uniquely positioned to provide a total installed cost for photovoltaic electricity generation that rivals conventional generation techniques. With these benefits and at these costs, we expect the demand for solar manufacturing to boom over the next decade. By providing a solution that uses scalable raw materials, such as silicon, versus unscalable materials, such as indium and tellurium, the SunFab Line will be able to fully service this new market.
In summary, the SunFab line is the first commercially available production facility that can produce photovoltaic modules that reach grid electricity pricing. It enables profitable company ventures for customers located anywhere on the globe. We have proven our solutions already in Germany, India, Spain and Taiwan with lines in startup in China, Italy and the United Arab Emirates. This product is poised to change the energy landscape on a global scale and has the cost structure, scalability and global infrastructure to ensure success.
