Dublin-based solar cell equipment manufacturer, Nines Photovoltaics has completed the build of its first industrial silicon wafer processing tool. The ground breaking solar cell manufacturing unit has recently been shipped to Fraunhofer ISE Germany, the largest solar energy research institute in Europe, where it will be installed and validated in a production environment.
Nines Photovoltaics technology is focused on dramatically changing the processes used to manufacture Solar Cells, reducing the production cost whilst also increasing cell efficiencies.
The shipment of this automated tool is a big step toward commercialization and represents a major milestone for Nines Photovoltaics, moving the technology away from the lab and closer to production. Fraunhofer ISE operates at the cutting edge of innovative solar technology and is one of only two places in the world that can certify solar cell efficiencies. They will provide an ideal platform to benchmark Nines Photovoltaics process against state of the art solar cell production, and promote the technology to solar cell manufacturers worldwide.
The areas of cost reduction and increased cell efficiency are of the upmost importance to solar cell manufacturers as they seek a competitive advantage in the struggle to survive this period of major consolidation within the PV industry.
Edward Duffy, chief executive of Nines, says “These are very exciting times; our tool is now installed in a world renowned Pilot Production line at the cutting edge of solar technology. This is a major step for Nines as we unveil our technology to the world at a time when the need for lower cost manufacturing solutions has never been greater and when the world is quietly waking up to the potential of solar PV.”