Challenges in large area, large volume amorphous-silicon based solar module manufacturing

Summary form only given. Advances in amorphous silicon technology (a-Si:H) and large area liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturing have led to a truly green thin film photovoltaic manufacturing methodology with no toxic waste. Manufacturing with this technology is relatively mature for areas ~1 m² . In the last ten years several organizations have been producing commercial products from 1 W to 100+W with production capacities in the 5-40 MW / year. Scale-up in substrate size from calculator modules (~3 cm² , 1984) to the largest module (5.6 m , 2008) is a fascinating story of congruence of developments from several industries and multiple non-solar applications. Moser Baer Photovoltaic (MBPV) is building the largest monolithically integrated a-Si:H based solar modules manufacturing plant in Greater Noida, U.P. This plant has a designed capacity of 40 MW/ Year. This plant will produce modules on glass with dimensions 2.2 m times 2.6 m. A full size module will produce > 360 W. Products with flexibility in size and voltage configuration will also be made ranging from > 80 W to 360 W. The turn key plant is built and supplied by Applied Materials (AMAT). In this presentation we will discuss some historical developments and some technical challenges in scale-up of the thin films (a-Si:H, ZnO, etc) and monolithic integration laser ablation of very large area modules.