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Norway Photovoltaic technology status and prospects Harald Rikheim, The Research Council of Norway |
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Norway has no public schemes for supporting PV systems. Electricity production
in Norway is almost exclusively hydro power. Growing import from other countries
has increased the focus on other renewables, but this is mainly wind and small
hydro. The main market for PV in Norway continues to be related to off-grid applications.
SINTEF Materials and Chemistry has substantial activity related to photovoltaics and solar cell technology. The activities are centered around two aspects; - new sources and production methods for silicon to solar cell applications and - fundamental research on materials for photovoltaics.
Agder University College has an Energy Park, which includes a 20 kW photovoltaic array, consisting of 10 kW amorphous cells and 10 kW multicrystalline cells. The focus of this installation has so far been demonstration of an integrated energy system, and the power produced by the PV-system has mostly been inverted and fed to the local electricity grid.
Presently, there are plans for major upgrades of the Energy Park. Part of these plans concern the use of Hydrogen as an energy carrier. For this purpose, the Energy Park is planned as being one of the nodes in HyNor - the Norwegian hydrogen highway. Integral in these ideas is a goal to feed one of the two planned electrolysers in the park with PV-power. In fact, the power will be fed via a common DC-link, and the PV-system is intended to be one of several electricity sources for this system. Thus, at optimal insolation, the PV-system would feed all the necessary power for the smaller electrolyser.
On a smaller scale, Agder Universiy College is presently working with characterization
of three different types of PV-modules: monocrystalline, multicrystalline and
amorphous. An automated measurement setup has been made, and data is presently
being collected, focusing on parameters such as efficiency of the various modules
compared to weather data.
They are also active in making state-of-the-art analogue PV-module simulators, that mimic the behavior of such systems using light emitting diodes as light sources, but giving the output power and i-v characteristic of a real system. This is used as laboratory equipment for the development of ancillary equipment such as power electronics converters for PV-systems, and also serves as a pedagogical tool in the education of engineering students at the college.
Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) is a private research foundation with about 550 employees. IFE's activity on solar electricity is comprehensive involving 15 persons, as it stretches from basic research on feedstock of silicon, process development, process optimalization, processing and characterization of silicon solar cells, and finally modelling and analysis of integrated PV-systems. IFE has a full inline solar cell processing line for silicon based solar cells. In addition advanced characterization laboratories for material, electrical and optical properties are also present.
On the system level IFE continued their efforts in 2004, in the area of stand-alone power systems based on photovoltaics and hydrogen energy storage technology (HSAPS). A laboratory for testing and experimentation has been established and is continuously being upgraded. The main components of the current HSAPS-laboratory is a 2 kW PEM electrolyzer, a 14 Nm3 (42 kWh) metal hydride storage, and a 500 W PEM fuel cell, while the PV-input is being simulated. Work on a newly acquired 1-kW water cooled PEM fuel cell that is to be thermally integrated with a custom-made metal hydride has started, and preliminary work on the integration of a 5 kW wind turbine into the HSAPS-laboratory system is also well underway. The experimental work is being complemented with modelling work. The HYDROGEMS-library (www.hydrogems.no) and simulation packages developed at IFE were used to design and evaluate the performance of renewable energy hydrogen systems, including PV-based systems, located in various parts of the world.
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Exceptions are demonstration projects, for which grid-connection, in some cases was performed.
Up to 1992, the leisure market, dominated by new installations in cottages and recreational homes grew rapidly. After 1992, this market slowed down due to saturation. However, some cabins have been fitted with additional power to serve new demands like TV and refrigeration. Since the first installations are now more than 30 years old, it will probably make sense to begin replacing systems, rather than maintenance. Still however, there are not many reports about customers wanting to replace old installations with new ones. Most sales are for new installations or expansions only.
In the 1990s, PV powered coastal lighthouses emerged as a significant new market.
Even north of 70°, lighthouses may be powered by PV, provided the battery bank
has sufficient capacity. The programme was launched by the Norwegian Coastal
Administration in 1982 and was completed in 2000-2001. Approximately 1 840 installations
with a total of 3 600 modules are now supplying lighthouses and coastal lanterns
along the Norwegian coast. The smallest are equipped with one single module
of 60 W, the largest with arrays counting up to 88 modules. A large number of
the systems are powered by 3 to 4 modules of 60 W. The average is 135 W per
installation. The cumulative installed PV power capacity is 215 kW. The installations
are equipped with battery banks (NiCd) with spare capacity ranging from 10 to
120 days and mean lifetime of 20 years. In the future, solar power will be combined
with other renewable energy technologies in hybrid systems. The Coastal Authority
is presently testing small wind turbines in combinations with PV. Solutions
including fuel cells are also being considered.
Applications of stand-alone PV for telecommunication stations and hybrid utility systems (called here the professional market, as opposed to the leisure market) have also grown during the past years. Utility companies have made some selective investments for providing electricity to remote dwellings. PV in combination with other energy sources have been demonstrated for permanent dwellings, and may offer a viable solution where the distance to existing electricity grid exceeds 10 km. An earlier demonstration project, where PV was combined with a LPG fired engine generator-set, has been followed up by a few other LPG or diesel powered systems. Although these systems include battery storage, they do not appear to have included PV installations. Actual turnover and installations vary from year to year, depending largely on project allocations.
Norway does not have any incentive schemes supporting the installation of PV systems, and consequently, there are very few grid-connected systems. Some building integrated installations have, however, been built during the last few years. Among these are The Technical University in Trondheim (16kW), the BP administration building in Stavanger (approximately 16 kW), and the low-energy dwelling at Hamar (2,2 kW). All of these were installed before 2003.
Three other more recent projects are worthwhile mentioning:
Elkem Solar was established in 2001 with its main objective being to develop
a process for feedstock to solar cell production. With the developed metallurgical
route ES has the potential to be an important player in this market. During the
last year of development, feedstock from ES has been tested industrially. Silicon
from ES (ES-Si) has been mixed with standard feedstock in the range 25 to 65 per
cent, and the obtained solar cell efficiencies are similar to what is obtained
with standard charge. Results from these tests have been published at 19th PVSEC
in Paris, June 2004 and latest at the 31st IEEE PV Specialist Conference in Orlando,
Florida, USA, January 3rd to 7th this year. Cell efficiencies above 16 per cent
have been demonstrated. From being a research organization, ES is now building
up production capabilities. The first production plant will be a pilot scale unit
planned to start operation in third quarter of 2005. The next development phase
is a production unit with a minimum capacity of 2500 MT/year.
Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) is a significant player in the international solar energy industry. From the headquarters and R&D centre at Høvik outside the Norwegian capital of Oslo, subsidiaries are operated on three continents. REC is the only company in the world that covers the whole value chain of solar energy - from the manufacturing of solar grade polysilicon feedstock to the marketing of photovoltaic systems to the consumer.
The research staff in Solar Grade Silicon is now conducting experimental tests in a pilot 200 ton/year fluid bed reactor (FBR) built in 2004 by Solar Grade Silicon. The experiments will study reactor design, further scale-up and process parameters for production of polysilicon from silane. The goal of the research is to determine the design of a commercial reactor for large-scale production of PV feedstock. Scan Wafer is currently expanding its plant NR. 3 in south of Norway (Porsgrunn), started up in 2003 and is ready to invest in a twin plant in the neighbouring area. Scan Wafer's total capacity (silicon wafers), when these expansions are completed, is estimated at ~ 450 MW/year against a capacity of 200 MW/year at year-end 2004. Further expansions are being prepared for the West-Coast of Norway in the Aardal industrial area. ScanCell in Narvik and ScanModule in Arvika, Sweden are currently producing about 24 and 12 MW respectively of cells and modules. Major expansions are being planned and/or implemented in both companies.
The company Solar Grade Silicon AS was established in 2003, based on a process (pat.pend.) developed by professor Per K. Egeberg, Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences at Agder University College. The process is designed to utilize Trichlorosilane (HSiCl3) as raw material in the production of solar grade silicon. Hydrogen chloride (HCl) from the reactor will be reused in the production of silane. The reactor principles have been verified in laboratory scale, and an upscale version is now being designed to facilitate industrialization. In a feasibility study carried out by SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, the production cost is calculated to approx. 10 USD/kg SoGSi.
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