US PV manufacturer Astropower announced the first commercial shipments of its new APex cells and modules in July.

The material used for the cells is polycrystalline silicon, but it is formed using the company's innovative silicon-film continuous sheet process - similar to the methods used for manufacturing plate glass or sheet steel - which was developed with partial support from US DOE under the cost-shared Photovoltaic Manufacturing Technology Programme (PVMaT).

The new process reportedly offers substantial savings in manufacturing cost and production time over the batch methods used to make the majority of crystalline silicon cells currently sold on the world market, and also allows greater flexibility over cell size. The manufacturing costs savings are enabling Astropower to undercut the price of conventional silicon technology by around 10% initially, with the prospect of further reductions in future, depending on market performance. The new product range consists of 45 Wp and 90 Wp power modules and was launched at the Soltech Conference in Orlando in April. The modules are being manufactured at a dedicated new 9 MWp capacity plant in Newark, Delaware.

Information:

• Trish Carrico
  Astropower
  U.S.A.
  Fax: +1 302 368 6474

[ Top ] [ Previous article in PV Power ] [ Next article in PV Power ]