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Italy Photovoltaic technology status and prospects S. Castello, ENEA S. Guastella, CESI |
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2003 > Last updated: 30 May 2004 |
The Italian development and diffusion photovoltaic programme covers both all the
main aspects of the technology, from the study of new materials up to plant operation
and the dissemination programme implementation.
Up to now, this context has led to such relevant results as:
Following the great success recorded by these initiatives, a second phase of the Programme has been officially approved and additional commitments are foreseen, funded by the Ministry of Environment and Regions; mainly:
On the whole, the Ministry of Environment and Regions’ incentives are activating an investment amount of about 175 MEUR, to install a total capacity of about 23 MW. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that despite very high public demand, the Programme is experiencing rather slow growth due to ongoing bureaucratic issues.
As a consequence, at the end of 2003, only about 6,5 MW out of the anticipated 23 MW have thus far been installed. In this perspective, ENEA is providing the technical support to the Ministry of Environment in the definition of plant technical features and in data monitoring. In addition, ENEA is carrying out R&D activities on distributed generation, in order to contribute to reaching the long term objectives of
the whole initiative.
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The Italian R&D programme supports the development of new materials, devices and
system components, as well as the perform-ance evaluation of photovoltaic systems.
These activities are mainly conducted by ENEA and CESI, while some topics are
carried out in cooperation with the PV industry.
ENEA is the main research organisation operating in Italy. Its most significant R&D activities concern laser assisted processes, buried contact and selective emitter technology, advanced screen-printing, and the setup and optimization of fabrication processes of several kinds of innovative cells.
In the near future, a-Si based multi-junction thin film devices are still a main line of activity which aims to improve the stabilized efficiency of integrated large area modules. A new cluster tool was recently installed to begin a new investigation on poly-Si thin films; Hot Wire CVD and VHF PECVD will be utilized to obtain device quality poly-Si with low process temperature and high growth rate. ENEA is also involved in the a-SiNET and the European project, PV-EC-NET.
Moreover, in the field of a-Si/c-Si heterojunction, a cooperation between Eurosolare, ENEA and some other European operators, is currently carried out in the framework of the “MOPHET” Programme; which is promoted by the European Community. Activities on poly-Si thin film cells on foreign substrates are also carried out, in the framework of the V FP “Subaro.”
In the systems and components sector, activities on small grid-connected plants, as prototypes of roof mounted systems are carried out by ENEA in the Monte Aquilone test facility, in Portici Center and on some pilot plants installed all over Italy. Performances of these plants are analyzed in terms of energy output, energy losses, power quality, operation and maintenance procedures. Analysis and tests on medium and large power plants have been carried out by ENEA on Delphos 600 kWp and Casaccia 100 kWp grid-connected plant. Last, but not least, ENEA is working on a new programme based on concentration, the PhoCUS (Photovoltaic Concentrators to Utility Scale) Project, aimed at investigating concentrators technologies and assessing the technical and economical feasibility of this application in Italy, for the centralized generation of electricity.
Concerning the demonstration and testing aspects of this project, it is expected that 5 standard units (5 kW each) will be installed in the Enea Monte Aquilone test facility in the early 2004.
CESI is an institute for R&D and services in the electric sector, which belongs to the Italian electrical operators (institutions, utilities and electromechanical manufacturers). In the year 2000, with the liberalization of the Italian Electrical System, the research department of ENEL (formerly the National Electric Utility) was incorporated in CESI. Since then, CESI, supported by Italian Government, is strongly involved in the technological innovation of the electric sector and consequently, also in development and testing of advanced renewable energy sources for the Italian Electric System. Within this field of activity, photovoltaic conversion plays an important role. Basically the following types of activities are carried out by CESI in this field:
In the frame of GaAs space solar cells, CESI is one of the leader companies in Europe having supplied bare solar cells for 24 small and medium size satellites, worldwide. Single junction GaAs solar cells are presently manufactured using metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) large size industrial equipment. Triple junction solar cells (InGaP/GaAs/Ge) are under development and qualification and will be commercially available from next year. GaAs single junction and multi-junction concentrator solar cells are also manufactured for terrestrial application. This development activity is aimed at investigating the expected cost of the Wp using advanced high efficiency solar cells derived from space technology and is suitable for converting sunlight with an efficiency close to 30 % at concentrator values above 300 suns. Several concentrator PV test modules are being manufactured using composite Fresnel lenses.
The R&D activities of CESI in the field of space solar cells have been funded both by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and
the European Space Agency (ESA). In the systems field, CESI has been involved in the development and manufacturing of the main PV installations in Italy, for many years. Present activities in this field are the PV roof projects as well as the manufacturing of faced and stand alone systems. CESI is currently involved in development and evaluation of innovative RE hybrid systems for electrification of remote villages. An experimental test field is available at CESI outdoor laboratories in Milan, to evaluate different components for hybrid systems, whereas the installation of an experimental plant is in progress in a mountain area of North Italy. Furthermore, performance evaluation of photovoltaic components and plants are currently carried out by CESI on several PV plants in order to assess long term behaviour of PV technology in different climatic conditions and in different electric configurations.
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The major PV module manufacturer is Eurosolare. Its manufacturing facilities have a production capability of 3 MWp/year per shift. Both single-crystal and multi-crystalline silicon cells are currently produced; in particular, the multi-crystalline module manufacturing process is completely integrated starting from the ingot fabrication, while single-crystalline modules are based on wafers bought on the international market. Moreover, the Eurosolare production also includes specially designed modules for roof-tops and facades.
The other module manufacturer is Helios Technology with a production capability of 2,5 MWp/year. Helios Technology module manufacturing process comprehends the fabrication of cells and modules from mono-crystalline silicon wafers.
Additionally, other small companies are assembling and encapsulating tailor-made modules, especially designed modules such as windows, integrated cells and the use of coloured cells can be found in Italy.
In the field of BOS components, about 15 companies manufacture inverters for on-grid and off-grid applications. Some of these have experience in inverters for large PV power plants, while others have produced 1,5-10 kVA inverters under Electric Utilities specifications.
There are four main Italian battery manufacturers with a specific experience in the PV sector. All of these manufacturers produce stationary lead-acid batteries with a low content of antimony, in order to reduce the self-discharge. The rated capacity range from a few Ah to about 3 000 Ah.
Finally, an estimation of the number of companies that install
PV systems in Italy now reaches 100 units. These are specialist PV companies offering consultancy, installation services and
component delivery. These include the ENEL Group, CESI and some electric municipalities. The most important operators in this field are associated in the Italian PV firms Group (GIFI).
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