Nanosolar
Encyclopedia
Nanosolar is a developer of solar power
technology. Based in San Jose
, CA, Nanosolar has developed and commercialized a low-cost printable
solar cell
manufacturing process. The company started selling panels mid-December 2007, and plans to sell them at around $1 per watt. When first announced that was just one fifth the price of the silicon cells, but in 2010 brand name silicon cells sell from around $1.70 reducing Nanosolar's cost advantage significantly.
. The company has received financing from a number of technology investors including Benchmark Capital
, Mohr Davidow Ventures
, and Larry Page
and Sergey Brin
, the founders of Google
. Nanosolar received the largest amount in a round of Venture Capital
technology funding amongst United States companies during Q2 2006, with 100 million USD of new funding secured. It also received the largest amount of financing of any private company in 2008 (USD 300 million in Q1).
Nanosolar planned to build a large production facility in San Jose and in Germany, with an annual capacity of 430 megawatts. Nanosolar is also building a panel
manufacturing plant in Luckenwalde
(Berlin
). Several German energy and venture capital companies have heavily invested in this company as a consequence of the favourable economics for solar energy in Germany due to government subsidies.
On December 12, 2007 the company announced that it had started solar cell production in its San Jose factory, with its
German facility slated to go into operation in the 1st quarter of 2008. The company said in 2006 that the San Jose factory, when fully built, would have the capacity to produce 430 megawatts of cells each year.
On December 18, 2007 the company began shipping its first solar panels for a one-megawatt municipal power plant in Germany.
As of 2008 Nanosolar has raised about 500 million USD in total funding by private investors Benchmark Capital
, Mitsui Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures
, OnPoint, Capricorn Management, Firelake Capital Management, GLG Partners
, Grazia Equity, Swiss Re
, Beck Energy, Omidyar Network
, Lone Pine Capital, Energy Capital Partners, Riverstone Holdings
, EDF
, The Skoll Foundation, EDS
(HP) and The Carlyle Group.
CEO Geoff Tate
was named CEO, replacing co-founder Martin Roscheisen
who had been the company's Chairman & CEO for the past eight years; no reason was given for Roscheisen's exit.
EVP Operations is Werner Dumanski who previously led IBM's $4.5 billion storage-disk manufacturing; and co-founder and VP Corporate Development Brian Sager, a biotech veteran who has advised more than 50 high-growth companies.
—which achieves up to 19.9% efficiency
in laboratory samples—to build their thin film
solar cells. The company's technology gained early industry recognition with the presentation of a Small Times Magazine award at a leading nanotech business event in 2005. Nanosolar's solar cells have been verified by NREL to be as efficient as 14.6% in 2006 and 15.3% in 2009.
Technical details of Nanosolar's new manufacturing techniques have been disclosed in patent applications. Some information about their process has become available in a Scientific American
article (in German).
These details involve a semiconductor ink that it claims will enable it to produce solar cells with a basic printing process, rather than using slow and expensive high-vacuum based thin-film deposition processes. The ink is deposited on a flexible substrate (the “paper”), and then nanocomponents in the ink align themselves properly via molecular self-assembly
. In September 2009, Nanosolar announced the launch of production at a rate of 640 MW annually; however, ramp-up to volume production after the announcement took an additional six months, limiting actual production in 2009 to an estimated 4 MW, and as of August 2010 the plant is still ramping up toward its announced capacity. Since the hiring of new CEO Geoff Tate, the company has declined to discuss its actual manufacturing capacity, but has said that its target for 2010 is to ship panels for "several ... megawatt-size projects" and "[build] panels for projects that have been identified that can help build the case for an operating history and bankability in 2011." Efficiencies for current production panels are said to be 8-9%, with plans to submit panels with 10-11% efficiency for IEC certification in the fall of 2010.
Nanosolar has developed a suite of in-house capabilities for creating nanostructure
d components based on various patented and patent-pending techniques. It uses nanostructure
d components as the basis for creating printable semiconductors, printable transparent electrodes, novel forms of advanced nanocomposite
solar-cell design and powerful new forms of barrier films.
According to the company, "leveraging recent science advances in nanostructure
d materials, Nanosolar has developed a proprietary ink that makes it possible to simply print the semiconductor of a high-performance solar cell. This ink is based on Nanosolar developing various proprietary forms of nanoparticles and associated organic dispersion chemistry and processing techniques suitable for delivering a semiconductor of high electronic quality."
Two advantages over earlier technologies is that a printing process is quick and also makes it easy to deposit a uniform layer of the ink, resulting in a layer with the correct ratio of elements everywhere on the substrate. Also, the ink is printed only where needed, so there is less waste of material. Last, the substrate material on which the ink is printed is much more conductive and less expensive than the stainless steel
substrates that are often used in thin-film solar panels.http://www.nanosolar.com
These solar cells successfully blend the needs for efficiency, low cost, and longevity and will be easy to install due to their flexibility and light weight. Estimates by Nanosolar of the cost of these cells fall roughly between 1/10 and 1/5 the industry standard per kilowatt.
The company implies that their solar cells can last more than 25 years by saying they "achieve a durability compatible with our 25-year warranty." They recently commissioned a study by Black and Veatch that finds their 25-year warranty to be compatible with their module design.
See also Copper indium gallium selenide#Companies for a more complete listing.
Solar power
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
technology. Based in San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, CA, Nanosolar has developed and commercialized a low-cost printable
Printed electronics
Printed electronics is a set of printing methods used to create electrical devices on various substrates. Printing typically uses common printing equipment or other low-cost equipment suitable for defining patterns on material, such as screen printing, flexography, gravure, offset lithography and...
solar cell
Solar cell
A solar cell is a solid state electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect....
manufacturing process. The company started selling panels mid-December 2007, and plans to sell them at around $1 per watt. When first announced that was just one fifth the price of the silicon cells, but in 2010 brand name silicon cells sell from around $1.70 reducing Nanosolar's cost advantage significantly.
Financial backers and manufacturing
Nanosolar was started in 2002 and is headquartered in San Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. The company has received financing from a number of technology investors including Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital is a venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful startups. In 1997, the firm invested $6.7 million in eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999. Other high-profile investments include Ariba, Juniper Networks, Red...
, Mohr Davidow Ventures
Mohr Davidow Ventures
Mohr Davidow Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in early stage technology companies. For over 28 years, Mohr Davidow has helped to build more than 250 startup companies. The firm has $1.85B under management...
, and Larry Page
Larry Page
Lawrence "Larry" Page is an American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Sergey Brin, is best known as the co-founder of Google. As of April 4, 2011, he is also the chief executive of Google, as announced on January 20, 2011...
and Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin
Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin is a Russian-born American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the largest internet companies. , his personal wealth is estimated to be $16.7 billion....
, the founders of Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
. Nanosolar received the largest amount in a round of Venture Capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
technology funding amongst United States companies during Q2 2006, with 100 million USD of new funding secured. It also received the largest amount of financing of any private company in 2008 (USD 300 million in Q1).
Nanosolar planned to build a large production facility in San Jose and in Germany, with an annual capacity of 430 megawatts. Nanosolar is also building a panel
Photovoltaic module
A solar panel is a packaged, connected assembly of solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells...
manufacturing plant in Luckenwalde
Luckenwalde
Luckenwalde is the capital of the Teltow-Fläming district in the German state of Brandenburg. It is situated on the Nuthe river north of the Fläming Heath, at the eastern rim of the Nuthe-Nieplitz Nature Park, about south of Berlin...
(Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
). Several German energy and venture capital companies have heavily invested in this company as a consequence of the favourable economics for solar energy in Germany due to government subsidies.
On December 12, 2007 the company announced that it had started solar cell production in its San Jose factory, with its
German facility slated to go into operation in the 1st quarter of 2008. The company said in 2006 that the San Jose factory, when fully built, would have the capacity to produce 430 megawatts of cells each year.
On December 18, 2007 the company began shipping its first solar panels for a one-megawatt municipal power plant in Germany.
As of 2008 Nanosolar has raised about 500 million USD in total funding by private investors Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital is a venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful startups. In 1997, the firm invested $6.7 million in eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999. Other high-profile investments include Ariba, Juniper Networks, Red...
, Mitsui Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures
Mohr Davidow Ventures
Mohr Davidow Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in early stage technology companies. For over 28 years, Mohr Davidow has helped to build more than 250 startup companies. The firm has $1.85B under management...
, OnPoint, Capricorn Management, Firelake Capital Management, GLG Partners
GLG Partners
GLG Partners, Inc. is an American global hedge fund sponsor that, as of 14th October 2010, is a wholly owned subsidiary of British alternative investment manager Man plc...
, Grazia Equity, Swiss Re
Swiss Re
Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd , generally known as Swiss Re, is a Swiss reinsurance company. It is the world’s second-largest reinsurer, after having acquired GE Insurance Solutions. The company has its headquarters in Zurich...
, Beck Energy, Omidyar Network
Omidyar Network
Omidyar Network is a philanthrocapitalist investment firm established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam. To date, Omidyar Network has committed more than $290 million to for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations that foster economic advancement and encourage individual...
, Lone Pine Capital, Energy Capital Partners, Riverstone Holdings
Riverstone Holdings
Riverstone Holdings is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in the energy and power sectors. The firm focuses on oil and gas exploration, midstream pipeline, electric generation, energy and power services as well as energy and power technology...
, EDF
EDF
- Military :* Elmendorf Air Force Base, a United States Air Force Base in Alaska* Estonian Defence Forces, military of the Republic of Estonia* European Defence Force, an international military force by the European Council- Organizations :...
, The Skoll Foundation, EDS
Electronic Data Systems
HP Enterprise Services is the global business and technology services division of Hewlett Packard's HP Enterprise Business strategic business unit. It was formed by the combination of HP's legacy services consulting and outsourcing business and the integration of acquired Electronic Data Systems,...
(HP) and The Carlyle Group.
Management
On March 22, 2010, former RambusRambus
Rambus Incorporated , founded in 1990, is a technology licensing company. The company became well known for its intellectual property based litigation following the introduction of DDR-SDRAM memory.- History :...
CEO Geoff Tate
Geoff Tate
Geoff Tate is an American singer and musician, who rose to fame in the 1980s with the progressive metal band, Queensrÿche...
was named CEO, replacing co-founder Martin Roscheisen
Martin Roscheisen
R. Martin Roscheisen is an Austrian-American technology entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley.-Background and Education:According to a profile in German business journal Handelsblatt. Martin Roscheisen was born and raised in Munich, Germany, as an Austrian citizen. Attending Feodor Lynen high...
who had been the company's Chairman & CEO for the past eight years; no reason was given for Roscheisen's exit.
EVP Operations is Werner Dumanski who previously led IBM's $4.5 billion storage-disk manufacturing; and co-founder and VP Corporate Development Brian Sager, a biotech veteran who has advised more than 50 high-growth companies.
Technology
The company uses copper indium gallium diselenideCopper indium gallium selenide
Copper indium gallium selenide is a I-III-VI2 semiconductor material composed of copper, indium, gallium, and selenium. The material is a solid solution of copper indium selenide and copper gallium selenide...
—which achieves up to 19.9% efficiency
Energy conversion efficiency
Energy conversion efficiency is the ratio between the useful output of an energy conversion machine and the input, in energy terms. The useful output may be electric power, mechanical work, or heat.-Overview:...
in laboratory samples—to build their thin film
Thin film
A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer to several micrometers in thickness. Electronic semiconductor devices and optical coatings are the main applications benefiting from thin film construction....
solar cells. The company's technology gained early industry recognition with the presentation of a Small Times Magazine award at a leading nanotech business event in 2005. Nanosolar's solar cells have been verified by NREL to be as efficient as 14.6% in 2006 and 15.3% in 2009.
Technical details of Nanosolar's new manufacturing techniques have been disclosed in patent applications. Some information about their process has become available in a Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
article (in German).
These details involve a semiconductor ink that it claims will enable it to produce solar cells with a basic printing process, rather than using slow and expensive high-vacuum based thin-film deposition processes. The ink is deposited on a flexible substrate (the “paper”), and then nanocomponents in the ink align themselves properly via molecular self-assembly
Molecular self-assembly
Molecular self-assembly is the process by which molecules adopt a defined arrangement without guidance or management from an outside source. There are two types of self-assembly, intramolecular self-assembly and intermolecular self-assembly...
. In September 2009, Nanosolar announced the launch of production at a rate of 640 MW annually; however, ramp-up to volume production after the announcement took an additional six months, limiting actual production in 2009 to an estimated 4 MW, and as of August 2010 the plant is still ramping up toward its announced capacity. Since the hiring of new CEO Geoff Tate, the company has declined to discuss its actual manufacturing capacity, but has said that its target for 2010 is to ship panels for "several ... megawatt-size projects" and "[build] panels for projects that have been identified that can help build the case for an operating history and bankability in 2011." Efficiencies for current production panels are said to be 8-9%, with plans to submit panels with 10-11% efficiency for IEC certification in the fall of 2010.
Nanosolar has developed a suite of in-house capabilities for creating nanostructure
Nanostructure
A nanostructure is an object of intermediate size between molecular and microscopic structures.In describing nanostructures it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensions on the nanoscale. Nanotextured surfaces have one dimension on the nanoscale, i.e., only the thickness of the...
d components based on various patented and patent-pending techniques. It uses nanostructure
Nanostructure
A nanostructure is an object of intermediate size between molecular and microscopic structures.In describing nanostructures it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensions on the nanoscale. Nanotextured surfaces have one dimension on the nanoscale, i.e., only the thickness of the...
d components as the basis for creating printable semiconductors, printable transparent electrodes, novel forms of advanced nanocomposite
Nanocomposite
A nanocomposite is as a multiphase solid material where one of the phases has one, two or three dimensions of less than 100 nanometers , or structures having nano-scale repeat distances between the different phases that make up the material...
solar-cell design and powerful new forms of barrier films.
According to the company, "leveraging recent science advances in nanostructure
Nanostructure
A nanostructure is an object of intermediate size between molecular and microscopic structures.In describing nanostructures it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensions on the nanoscale. Nanotextured surfaces have one dimension on the nanoscale, i.e., only the thickness of the...
d materials, Nanosolar has developed a proprietary ink that makes it possible to simply print the semiconductor of a high-performance solar cell. This ink is based on Nanosolar developing various proprietary forms of nanoparticles and associated organic dispersion chemistry and processing techniques suitable for delivering a semiconductor of high electronic quality."
Two advantages over earlier technologies is that a printing process is quick and also makes it easy to deposit a uniform layer of the ink, resulting in a layer with the correct ratio of elements everywhere on the substrate. Also, the ink is printed only where needed, so there is less waste of material. Last, the substrate material on which the ink is printed is much more conductive and less expensive than the stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
substrates that are often used in thin-film solar panels.http://www.nanosolar.com
These solar cells successfully blend the needs for efficiency, low cost, and longevity and will be easy to install due to their flexibility and light weight. Estimates by Nanosolar of the cost of these cells fall roughly between 1/10 and 1/5 the industry standard per kilowatt.
The company implies that their solar cells can last more than 25 years by saying they "achieve a durability compatible with our 25-year warranty." They recently commissioned a study by Black and Veatch that finds their 25-year warranty to be compatible with their module design.
CIGS (copper indium gallium diselenide)
- Global SolarGlobal SolarGlobal Solar Energy is a manufacturer of copper indium gallium diselenide thin-film solar cells, with manufacturing operations in Tucson, Arizona, USA, and Berlin, Germany.- Technology :...
said that its CIGS cells from its factory had reached an average efficiency of 10 percent . - HelioVoltHelioVoltHelioVolt Corporation is a privately held U.S. energy company in the solar energy sector. It manufactures photovoltaic solar modules using a thin film semiconductor process based on Copper Indium Gallium Selenide to produce photovoltaic modules...
Corp. said it had produced CIGS cells with efficiency as high as 12.2 percent on a pilot line. - GroupSat Solar has noted that it can produce CIGS cells with a 12.5 percent and an average efficiency of 10 percent in full production efficiency.
- Ascent SolarAscent SolarAscent Solar Technologies, Inc. is a publicly traded solar energy company located in Littleton Colorado. Its primary product is a flexible thin film photovoltaic material on a plastic substrate...
said that its CIGS cells from its factory had reached an average efficiency of 19 percent
See also Copper indium gallium selenide#Companies for a more complete listing.
- SolyndraSolyndraSolyndra was a manufacturer of cylindrical panels of CIGS thin-film solar cells based in Fremont, California. Although the company was once touted for its unusual technology, plummeting silicon prices led to the company being unable to compete with more conventional solar panels...
- MiasoléMiasoléMiaSolé is a solar energy company developing Copper indium gallium selenide thin-film photovoltaic products. MiaSolé's manufacturing process lays CIGS on a flexible stainless steel substrate...
- Ascent SolarAscent SolarAscent Solar Technologies, Inc. is a publicly traded solar energy company located in Littleton Colorado. Its primary product is a flexible thin film photovoltaic material on a plastic substrate...
- IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
invented and is developing a hydrazine-based process that produces ~12% CIS - DayStar Technologies, Inc. said that its CIGS cells from its factory had reached an average efficiency of 14 percent .
External links
- Nanosolar company website
- Nanosolar company blog
- Nanosolar, the Printable Solar Cell
- Top Innovation of the Year 2007
- "At $1 per Watt, the iTunes of Solar Energy Has Arrived" article from SolveClimate.com
- Solar energy 'revolution' brings green power closer
- NanoSolar Germany - Largest Solar Farm
- Thin-film solar cells heading for $1 per Wp