Fujipream Corp., a solar cell module manufacturer, and Clean Venture 21 Corp., a start-up researching and developing spherical Si solar cells, have formed a partnership for research, development, volume production and commercialization of photovoltaic Si solar cells. Fujipream will offer financial and human resources to support Clean Venture 21's pilot plant construction and R&D effort to boost the efficiency of photovoltaic Si solar cells. Fujipream will also build a plant for volume production of photovoltaic Si solar cells modules.
The size of the solar cell market has been curtailed by a shortage of solar cells and modules as well as rising prices. This is due to increasing Si wafer prices aggravating a shortage in polycrystalline Si supply, the primary material of solar cells. Clean Venture 21's photovoltaic spherical Si solar cell technology has been spotlighted as a solution to these problems.
Most current crystal Si solar cells generate power by receiving sunlight using polycrystalline Si plates with a thickness of 200-300 mm. On the other hand, the photovoltaic spherical Si solar cell generates power by receiving sunlight using Si balls measuring 1 mm in diameter. Combined with photovoltaic technology using reflective mirrors that also function as electrodes, "the amount of Si used in a cell can be reduced to 1/5-1/7 of the amount used in the current product" (Mikio Murozono, President of Clean Venture 21), while maintaining equivalent performance. Cost of a solar cell module "can be therefore reduced to 89% of current crystal Si solar cells," boasted Hirofumi Tezuka, Fujipream.
One of the hurdles the photovoltaic spherical Si solar cell needs to overcome is the conversion rate. Its 11.7% rate is a little lower than the slightly more than 13% of current crystal Si solar cells. Murozono specified a target of "achieving a conversion rate equivalent to that of crystal Si solar cells by the time volume production starts in April 2007." He added the company aims to achieve a conversion rate of 16% in 2010-2011.
Naoki Tanaka, Nikkei Microdevices
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