I’ve already written a few times this year about the pending renewal of the solar tax rebates and incentives. I remember the glaring optimism I felt in April when things were really looking up. After all, the subject of renewable energy has broad bipartisan support these days. So why, just a few months later, do [...]
Photovoltaic Systems
Photovoltaic Systems and Home Solar Power News
Archive for July, 2008
Peak Sun Silicon: Polysilicon from Oregon
Posted in July 30th, 2008
50 MT (metric ton) Pilot Production ramping in the first quarter 2009
As of late, Peak Sun Silicon Corporation has been basking in the peak Intersolar North America 2008 and Oregon news with:
- Solar Jobs Rising in Oregon by Richard Read, The Oregonian
- Intersolar NA CNET Interview by Elsa Wenzel, CNET News.com
- Sun Sun Sun, Here it Comes by Ben Jacklet, Oregon Business
I learned more About Peak Sun Silicon when I ran into their stand at Intersolar in San Francisco.
Peak Sun Silicon will produce granular polysilicon utilizing a unique tribromosilane (SiHBr3) or TBS based continuous manufacturing process operating near atmospheric pressure and lower temperatures with improved energy efficiency. Per this Schumacher Bromosilane Process description:
The SBP process change from conventional polysilicon approaches is from an open-loop, batch, high temperature process, to a closed-loop (environmentally friendly), continuous, low temperature process. This innovation is accomplished by changing the silicon chemistry from a chlorine base to a bromine base (tribromosilane or “TBS”), and use of a “fluid bed” (”FB”) deposition reactor with continuous recycle of by-products.
The Peak Sun Silicon Granular Feedstock Specification describes their Electronic Grade polysilicon with 10N (ten nines) purity as uniform dense spherical-bead sized 1mm granules perfect for continuous silicon solar wafer growth processes
On February 28, 2008, Peak Sun Silicon held a ground breaking ceremony for their new headquarters and polysilicon production facility located in Albany, Oregon, near Millersburg. Per the press release Peak Sun Silicon Breaks Ground on Polysilicon Facility in Millersburg, Oregon:
Phase I construction will include a 5,000 square foot chemical purification building and a 5,000 square foot electronics grade polysilicon processing building.
Phase I is now expected to ramp 50 MT per year of pilot polysilicon production capacity in the first quarter of 2009 using tribromosilane produced on-site. Millersburg plant will make polysilicon for chips in solar panels reports the estimated construction cost is about $29 million, up from about $18 Million in Silicon maker picks Millersburg site and will employ 50 workers to start. As part of Peak Sun Silicon Secures Series A Funding for Polysilicon Manufacturing Plant, the total amount of Series A funding is not disclosed, but the mix of debt, equity, and tax incentives includes a $14 million loan under the Energy Loan Program administered by the Oregon Department of Energy.
In Phase II, Peak Sun Silicon plans to ramp polysilicon production capacity to 5000 MT per year in 2012 and bring online an additional 5000 MT per year capacity in 2013 for a total of 10000 MT per year. Peak Sun Silicon expects Phase II will require $700 million in capital investment and increase employment to about 500.
Patents and Process advantages
While the original Schumacher Bromosilane Process patent is over 30 year old:
United States Patent 4,084,024 April 11, 1978
“Process for the production of silicon of high purity”
a newer patent invented by Lloyd Woerner and Edward Moore for the J.C. Schumacher Company innovated the low temperature, closed loop process:
United States Patent 4,318,942 March 9, 1982
“Process for producing polycrystalline silicon”
Additional process reports are available from the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS):
The production of solar cell grade silicon from bromosilanes
Closed-Loop Process Yields Ultrapure Silicon (abstract only)
According to the Peak Sun Silicon presentation by President and CEO John C. Schumacher, Ph.D. (see Resume), at the Photon Expo in Munich, Germany, on April 2, 2008, the Schumacher Process for producing silicon has the following advantages:
- Environmentally sound — effluent recycled 100%
- Low carbon emissions – 61 pounds CO2/kg
- Energy efficient – 50kWh/kg total heat load (“THL”)
- Low temperature – 850 oC maximum
- High Yield – dust free
- Efficient use of materials — closed loop process
- Zero explosive polymer formation in exhaust
- Fluid Bed Product & Synthesis Reactors
- High purity – raw material impurities purged from recycle
Peak Sun Silicon also manufactures high purity Phosphorus Oxychloride (POCl3) used as an N-Type dopant for silicon solar wafers.
The Solar Jobs Rising in Oregon article tips three big solar companies are considering the Oregon Solar Forest for manufacturing facilities and one existing company is planning an expansion. Code names Project Ark (Sanyo?), Project Harvester, and the big one Project Tahoe are used to disguise solar companies considering Oregon for manufacturing sites.
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SolFocus Launches Concentrated Photovoltaic Plant And Research Facility
Posted in July 30th, 2008
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and PUERTOLLANO, Spain, July 30 /PRNewswire/ — SolFocus today announced the completion of its initial phase of the world’s first full scale concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solar power plant. This facility, owned by the Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC), has been created both as a power production facility and a proving ground for CPV technology. The project demonstrates that CPV technology, with its higher efficiency and potential for cost reduction, will be an attractive alternative to other solar technologies in key high solar resource regions around the globe. This first 200 kilowatt (kW) phase of SolFocus’ deployment is ready to generate clean, reliable, carbon-free electricity for the local power grid for decades to come.
“Completing this first stage of the ISFOC project marks a major milestone for SolFocus, and for concentrator photovoltaics in general, on our way toward achieving grid parity for renewable energy,” said Gary D. Conley, CEO of SolFocus. “Working with the ISFOC team in this collaborative project of commercial deployment and scale, we are proud to deliver on the immense promise and potential that CPV holds in scaling to meet the world’s energy needs.”
SolFocus is continuing its second phase of the project, which will bring installed capacity of its CPV systems at ISFOC to 500 kW over the next month.
“We chose SolFocus’ CPV arrays as part of the ISFOC project because we believed their non-imaging optical design would provide efficient and reliable systems,” said Dr. Pedro Banda, Director General of ISFOC. “We had confidence that they would be able to meet not just the design challenges, but the manufacturing challenges for volume deployment as well; we could not be more pleased with the results.”
The company’s innovative CPV technology employs a system of imaging and non-imaging reflective optics to concentrate sunlight 500 times onto small, highly efficient solar cells. SolFocus CPV systems use 1/1,000th of the active, expensive solar cell material compared to traditional photovoltaic panels. In addition, the cells used in SolFocus CPV systems have over twice the conversion efficiency of traditional cells, accelerating the trajectory for solar energy to reach cost parity with fossil fuels. SolFocus CPV solar panels are made primarily of readily available and cost-effective materials such as aluminum and glass. These CPV systems have the lowest carbon footprint in manufacturing, and are over 95-percent recyclable.
SolFocus integrates its CPV panels with its advanced tracking system that continuously aligns the solar array with direct sunlight throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky. SolFocus tracking systems are also being used with traditional PV, as the tracker’s high degree of accuracy allows PV systems to produce as much as 40 percent more energy over fixed PV installations.
SolFocus, with European headquarters in Madrid, Spain and United States headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., also has installed systems in Arizona, California, Hawaii and India. Last month, the company was honored at the prestigious 6th World Investment Conference in La Baule France with the Best Cleantech Investment Award for the company’s investment in Spain and expansion into the European market.
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Solar Powered Camp Stove
Posted in July 30th, 2008
Last week we reviewed the Woodgas-Stove by iENERGY over on Biomass Authority and came away very impressed with the product. This week we wanted to explore the solar power option for this stove and provide some tips for sustainable camping. While the woodgas stove is more of a biomass product than a solar one, it does rely on a small electric fan to achieve high burn temperatures and this fan can be powered either by traditional batteries or solar power. Guess which option we prefer?
In case you haven’t read our review of the wood gas stove we’ll catch you up here before we move on. The stove weighs under 2lbs and is built for portability; instead of using white gas or liquid fuel this stove simply uses twigs and other organic matter which can be found along the trail. The stove functions like a blast furnace directing air up and through the fire to help it burn hotter and more consistently, and it includes a metal range for resting a pot or pan on so you can grill up that morning feast or roast marsh mallows… your choice!
Since the real value of this product is convenience, not having to cary around fuel, the solar option is a no-brainer. We put this option through a series of tests in Yosemite National Park, California this past week and were very pleased with the results. The solar panel is an add-on third party device that is simply resold with the woodgas-stove and includes the correct dongle attachment. It comes with two rechargeable double A batteries and ideally those would be charging as you prepared the stove. You could almost think of it as using solar to charge batteries which in turn power the stove. Unfortunately, this concept is a bit of a letdown because it means batteries still have to be made and sold with this product vs. pure solar.
In our opinion some of the romance is lost when you think of the solar option as a battery charger instead of an energy source in itself. For this reason we chose to “forget” our rechargeable AA batteries at home which allowed us to test the solar option in survival mode, as if we had been in the woods for years trying to heat our food (and hands) even as the batteries came to the end of their life. Maybe we’re on Gilligan’s Island and the professor just used those rechargeable double-A’s for his latest project? Maybe we’re on Lost and fire is the only way to keep away the “Others”. Would the stove still work without those batteries??
Amazingly, even without the batteries in tow the solar panel was able to power the little woodgas stove. Granted, It did take a few extra seconds to get the fan spinning, and it was a sunny day, but the fact that this little system could run indefinitely just using the sun and a few twigs is a very romantic concept indeed! With the stove costing just under $50 it’s worth checking out and the solar option is a must have in our opinion!
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