About SLIVER
Origin is commercialising the revolutionary SLIVER technology at its Regency Park Plant in South Australia.
About Origin EnergyWith a history dating back 140 years, Origin Energy is one of Australia’s leading energy providers with a market capitalisation of over 2 billion USD. It participates in most segments of the energy chain including natural gas exploration and production; power generation; and energy retailing and trading. Origin Energy supplies energy to more than 3.6 million homes and businesses across Australia and is the second largest energy retailer in Australia. The company is one of the leading retailer and installer s of grid-connected solar systems in Australia. In December 2003, Origin Energy announced construction of its AUD 20 million solar photovoltaic pilot manufacturing plant, located near Adelaide, South Australia. This plant continues the R&D of SLIVER technology.
About SLIVER technology
SLIVER technology has been developed through an extensive collaboration program with Australian National University's Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems.
SLIVER technology comprises SLIVER panels/modules and SLIVER cells – the building blocks of SLIVER panels.
SLIVER cells are substantially thinner than most solar cells yet highly efficient.Thin solar cells have been micro machined using innovative manufacturing techniques to less than 70 microns thick from monocrystalline silicon. The novel process creates narrow grooves which extend all the way through a thick silicon wafer. Cells are manufactured on the resulting silicon strips. These cells have a much greater surface area than the original wafer, leading to a potential for large decreases in processing effort and silicon usage.
The size, thickness and bifacial nature of the cells create the potential opportunity for them to be used in a wide variety of panel/module architectures and applications.
SLIVER cells on their own are highly efficient demonstrating efficiencies of over 19%. SLIVER modules tested by the US Sandia National Laboratories show efficiencies of between 12 and 14% with a 50% coverage ratio (i.e. SLIVER cells spaced with an equal sized gap between them). With a 100% coverage ratio (i.e. SLIVER cells spaced with NO gap between them), efficiencies of 17.7% have been demonstrated.
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Radically different in size and shape
SLIVER cells also differ radically from conventional solar cells in size and
shape. They are long, ultra thin, quite flexible, perfectly bifacial and have
a high power-to-weight ratio. This allows considerable flexibility in module
design and opens up possibilities for a number of new and innovative applications
in the future, including building integrated products BIPV and semi transparent
flexible modules.
Dramatically reduces expensive silicon use
SLIVER technology uses the lowest amount of m ono/poly crystalline silicon of
all conventional silicon wafer technologies. We are working toward it delivering
commercially competitive cell and module efficiencies. This means a solar PV
panel using SLIVER technology needs the equivalent of around 2 silicon wafers
to convert sunlight to 140 watts of power. By comparison, conventional solar
modules use around 60 silicon wafers to achieve similar performance. Once released,
we expect SLIVER panels to be priced at current market prices.
Module efficiency and transparency can be varied when SLIVER
cells are spaced out
Using a highly reflective lambertian (scattering) layer at the rear of the module,
the narrow width and bifacial nature of the SLIVER cells enable them to be spaced,
providing a reduction in silicon use further, with only a small fraction of light
escaping from the module. These features can be exploited in novel module designs
in which 50% or less of the module surface is covered with cells, yet up to 85%
of the incident light is still captured by the cells.
Removal of the lambertian reflector opens up a number of opportunities in semi-transparent applications. For example, modules for architectural applications could one day be readily fabricated with any desired degree of transparency.
On the other hand, if we make SLIVER modules with 100% coverage – i.e. no gaps between them, the bifacial nature of the cells is not utilised, but the efficiency is increased.
We are now investigating the best coverage: efficiency ratio which our first commercially available product will be.
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The perfectly bifacial response gives greater energy output
For applications where there is relatively little obstruction of sunlight, the
bifacial nature of SLIVER cells confers a substantial advantage over conventional
monofacial modules in terms of annual energy production for a variety of mounting
configurations. This feature, combined with the option for one day producing
transparent SLIVER modules, allows for novel applications in road sound barriers
and other building applications.
A low temperature coefficient means higher module efficiencies
If SLIVER modules are produced with a gap between
each SLIVER cell, t he low absorptivity of the SLIVER module,
due to the gap between encapsulated cells, allow each SLIVER panel to
run around 5º-6º C cooler compared to conventional silicon
PV modules. Testing confirms that modules exhibit a higher efficiency,
with a low voltage temperature coefficient of -2.0mV/ºC.
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Promotional material: SLIVER
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