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December 1, 2013
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Ivanpah, in California's Mojave Desert, Ivanpah, which is expected to come on line by the end of 2013, uses a series of three power towers: a field of movable mirrors (heliostats) focusing light on a 459-foot central tower. SOLAR SOLUTIONS: Dow Corning Joins with Chinese Firm to Boost Energy Source
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Dow Corning and China's Tianwei New Energy Holdings Company have jointly announced a new collaboration as solar energy begins to gain critical mass.
Several large, new solar thermal power plants are expected to begin commercial operation by the end of the year, more than doubling the solar thermal generating capacity in the United States.
The projects use different solar thermal technologies and storage options. Abengoa's Solana plant, which came on line in October 2013, is a 250-megawatt (MW) parabolic trough plant in Gila Bend, Arizona with integrated thermal storage.
BrightSource's Ivanpah, expected to enter service by the end of the year, is a 391-MW power tower plant in California's Mojave Desert that does not include storage.
Ivanpah uses a series of three power towers: a field of movable mirrors (heliostats) focusing light on a 459-foot central tower. The light heats water in a boiler at the top of the tower, creating steam, which is used to run a conventional steam turbine like those in a typical fossil-fired power plant.
Dow Corning's silicone-based, next-generation conductive adhesive Dow Corning® PV-5802 will be used in Tianwei New Energy's Metal Wrap Through (MWT) module production line -- an industrial scale, highly automated production solution developed by ECN (Energy Research Center of the Netherlands).
"Tianwei New Energy is the industry leader in MWT technology adoption, and we are very pleased to enter into this collaboration with them," said Dow Corning Solar Division Vice President Dan Futter, adding:
"With Dow Corning's advanced experience in silicones and conductive materials, this is a strategic move for both companies. We look forward to deploying this new innovative solution on a larger scale."
Tianwei New Energy plans to supply customers worldwide with low-cost, high-efficiency MWT photovoltaic products. Tianwei New Energy is related to China South Industries Group Corp
Solana and Ivanpah are much larger than solar thermal plants that have previously entered service in the United States. Over the past decade, a few smaller-scale and demonstration solar thermal projects have entered service. The only other dedicated solar thermal plants larger than 10 MW in the United States are the series of Solar Energy Generating System (SEGS) plants built in California in the 1980s and early 1990s and the Nevada Solar One parabolic trough project completed in 2007.
Energy Information Agency (EIA) projections for total solar thermal capacity additions in 2013 and 2014 include six projects for a total of 1,257 MW, with more expected in 2015 and 2016. However, while these solar thermal capacity additions are significant for the technology, they represent only 4 percent of total expected capacity additions for 2013 and 2014 (see chart below). Solar thermal capacity additions also continue to be outpaced by solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity additions, even though solar PV has only meaningfully entered the utility-scale market in the past few years.
One Tianwei product, PV-5802, provides excellent electrical properties and stability, which will greatly enhance the electrical performance, reliability and durability of Tianwei New Energy's MWT module. This cooperation and technological breakthrough demonstrates both companies' continued commitment to solar photovoltaic innovation and technology applications.
A cutting-edge solution for crystalline silicon cells and modules, MWT technology effectively improves module conversion efficiency without significantly increasing the base cost, which has been a major focus for the industry and the R&D efforts of mainstream manufacturers.
Tianwei New Energy's product features a new cell interconnection solution using a conductive backsheet and conductive adhesives, which greatly reduce power loss and increase production yield. Its fully automated functionality also significantly reduces labor costs and quality risks.
Dow Corning PV-5802 conductive adhesive demonstrated excellent conductivity and production yield in tests on Tianwei's MWT production line. The MWT modules using Dow Corning PV-5802 had very low cell-to-module power loss, less than 0.4 percent. The full area module efficiencies reached 16.8 percent, an outstanding value for multi-crystalline Silicon modules. In accelerated aging tests, the modules showed very low degradation: 0 percent loss after 300 thermal cycles (between -- 40 °C and 85 °C), and 0.2 percent loss after 1500 hours in damp heat conditions (85 °C, 85 percent relative humidity).
Dow Corning's conductive adhesives can also be used with other PV back contact module manufacturing applications, such as IBC and similar high efficiency technologies. The material has a long working time and is highly recyclable, helping customers reduce material waste in module production.
A set of MWT modules using Dow Corning PV-5802 has been tested by TUV Nord for qualification according to the standards IEC/EN 61215, IEC/EN 61730-1 and IEC/EN 61730-2. All tests were passed successfully, and as a result certification was granted.
"Dow Corning's newly developed conductive adhesive performs nearly perfectly in performance testing, giving us full confidence in this collaboration," said Wang Haitang, Tianwei New Energy General Manager. "Dow Corning PV-5802 will enhance the conversion efficiency and durability of MWT modules, providing Tianwei's downstream customers with higher quality, more efficient products. I believe this will help optimize and upgrade the entire industry chain."
Dow Corning and Tianwei New Energy are fully committed to supporting the continued development of China's solar energy industry. As one of the few providers of silicone-based solar solutions in the world, Dow Corning continues to develop and improve its solar energy solutions portfolio to meet the needs of the global solar cell, module and installation sectors.
Tianwei New Energy is a highly vertically integrated silicon, wafer, cell, module and photovoltaic systems supplier. It is the only company in China that produces solar products across the value chain from raw silicon materials up to completed solar systems.
The company introduced the 150 MWp MWT module production line in early 2012. After one year of trial operation, the company has now successfully implemented worldwide deployment, and produced bulk exports for the Australian market.
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