On 12/7/10 Zhengrong Shi, the founder and CEO of Suntech, one of the largest PV manufacturers in the world spoke at MIT, which has about 45 faculty now involved in solar research. The event was a joint presentation of the MIT China Energy and Environment Research Group, MIT Energy Initiative, and MIT Energy Club.
My telegraphic notes follow.
Shi did research on thin films earlier in his career and worked for Pacific Solar on crystal silicon thin films
2003 Suntech sold panels at $2.80 per watt ($1 watt by next year?)
Company started in 2001
China population may peak in the next three years or so at 1.5 billion
Peak oil by 2015 (IEA has noted that peak oil may have happened in 2006)
All energy comes from solar – coal and oil are fossilized sunlight
Oxygen and silicon are the most abundant elements on Earth and silicon is the prime constituent of most PV cells
60% of all solar jobs are in end use markets so there will always be local solar jobs
8.2 MegaWatt Suntech solar installation near Denver in Alamosa, CO
1.5 GigaWatts sales in 2010 and will be over 2 Gigs in 2011
Italy is now at grid parity due to quality of sunlight and high cost of electricity
By 2050, 30% of energy from solar and by the end of the century 70%
Screen printing PV is at 18% efficiency now (not sure if his efficiency figures are for lab or production cells)
Buried contact cells at 19%
Australian universities are leading in PV tech (Shi studied in Australia)
Sunpower is using back contact cells at 21% efficiency in production modules
First Solar thin film at 11% efficiency and lowest cost currently
Suntech acquired Pacific Solar last year and is continuing their thin film work
“Environment protection is the biggest charity” is part of the Suntech mission
Suntech headquarters in Shanghai is 80% efficient and has 1MW PV facade
They start from solar grade polysilicon wafers and will be manufacturing their own wafers in 2011
GigaWatts production scale up to 2.4 GW by end of 2011
Suntech has its own equipment manufacturing capability now
25 year power output warranty on their modules
Partnering with Univ of New South Wales and have just started partnering with Univ of Arizona through their installation in Phoenix
Pluto PV tech will achieve over 20% efficiency in production and is now at 16.6% multicrystalline module for world record: http://www.solarbuzz.com/news/…
Amorphous thin cell csg (crystal silicon on glass) may get to 20%
Plasmonic (a type of thin film silicon PV) nano structure with nano antennae research now going on
Working towards solar as baseload power within 10-15 years
Q and A
Rooftop is now 70% of market and will reach grid parity soonest
Suntech redesigned their modules to cut installation time from three hours to thirty minutes
And for your further edification, here’s a report on the world PV outlook 2010-2015: http://www.gtmresearch.com/rep…
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