Major barriers to the widespread introduction of PV vary from country to country, but usually include the difficulties of providing acceptable financing, organising installation and after-sales service, assuring technical quality through national standards, and providing and distributing appropriate information. Actions to avoid these barriers include • Entering other markets than the classical niche ones, and […]

Conventional rural electrification is usually of little interest for power utilities in developing countries because of the high cost of power lines and the comparatively small sales of electricity. This is why PV Solar Home Systems powering high- efficiency lamps and radio/TV sets provide an increasingly important electrification alternative for rural households, even at present […]

Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation (www. hscpoly. com) is based in Hemlock, Michigan. The company is a joint venture of Dow Corning Corporation (63.25%) and two Japanese firms, Shin-Etsu Handotai Co. Ltd. (24.5%) and Mitsubishi Mate­rials Corporation (12.25%). The company is the leading provider of polycrystalline silicon and other silicon-based products used in the semiconductor and solar […]

18.5.1 OECD countries A few years ago, it was believed that the most promising application for PV in OECD countries would be large, megawatt-sized grid-feeding plants installed by electricity companies in countries with good solar regimes. However, rapid developments in the area of PV building integration in countries at higher latitudes, such as Germany, Switzerland […]

OCI Company Ltd. (www. oci. co. kr) (formerly DC Chemical) is a global chemical company with a product portfolio spanning the fields of inorganic chemicals, petro and coal chemicals, fine chemicals, and renewable energy materials. In 2006, the company started its polysilicon business and completed its 6500 metric ton P1 plant in December 2007. The […]

Apart from the solar modules, a PV system usually consists of a frame, an inverter (if grid-coupled, otherwise a battery and controller) and wiring. In cost terms, the installation is also part of the BOS costs. When talking about the cost reduction of PV energy, one normally describes the perspectives, scenarios and challenges for the […]

GCL-Poly (gcl-poly. com. hk) was founded in March 2006 and construction of their Xuzhou polysilicon plant (Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Technology Develop­ment) began in July 2006. Phase I has a designated annual production capacity of 1500 tons and the first shipments were made in October 2007. Full capacity was reached in March 2008. At the end […]

Wacker Polysilicon AG (www. wacker. com) is one of the world’s leading manufac­turers of hyper-pure polysilicon for the semiconductor and photovoltaic industry, chlorosilanes and fumed silica. In 2011, Wacker increased its capacity to over 40000 metric tons and reported sales of 32000 metric tons. Their 15000 metric ton factory in Nunchritz Saxony, started production in […]