The IEEE SFBA Nanotechnology Council invites you to its Fifth Annual Half-Day Symposium on Tuesday November 17th from 12 to 4PM in Santa Clara. Two talks address thin film solutions for low cost solar cells. See the note below from Lux Research to wet your appetite on this topic. Two more talks will address the wide reach of nanotechnology in the generation and management of renewable energy. Register early on line and save or rsvp at our site for the at-door rate. All the details are shown below.
 

IEEE SFBA Nanotechnology Council Fifth Annual Half-Day Symposium

 

Nanotech-Enabled Energy Generation & Management

 

Tuesday, November 17 2009, 12pm - 4pm

 

Co-Sponsored by IEEE SCV Chapters: LEOS / Photonics; Electron Devices; CPMT

Also Co-sponsored by Norcal AIChE

 

Location: National Semiconductor Bldg E-1 CMA Room. 2900 Semiconductor Drive, Santa Clara, CA

 

Registration Fee (light lunch included):

IEEE Members / Students / Unemployed: $20, Non-Members: $25.  Add $5 at the door

 

REGISTER EARLY ONLINE AT: https://www.123signup.com/servlet/SignUpMember?PG=1520685182300&P=1520685191159751900&FinishURL=/home?Org=ISNC

 

OR  RSVP for AT-DOOR Registration at www.ieee.org/nano

 

 

AGENDA

 

12:15   Registration Begins

12:30   Networking and Lunch (Vegetarian and New York SandwichPlatter)

1:00     Welcome and Introductions

 

1:10     Keynote: The Promise Of Thin Film Based Photovoltaic Materials

            Dr. Chris Eberspacher

            Chief Technologist, Applied Materials Solar Business Group

 

1:50     Solar-cells By Solution Processing Of CdTe Nanoparticles

      Dr. Campbell Scott, IBM Almaden Research Center .

 

2:30     Networking Break

 

2:50     Energy Harvesting Systems Using Piezo-Electric Macro Fiber Composites

            Thomas Daue, President, Smart Material Corp.

 

3:30     Cathode Materials for High Rate Lithium Ion Batteries

      Dania Ghantous,

      Vice President, Technology & Battery Development, Imara Corp.

 

4:10     Wrap up. Symposium ends.

 

 

 Training note:

 

LUX Research reports on thin film PV hopes in the context of crystalline Si dominance:

 

Solar:Capacity and crystalline silicon top concerns at the 24th EU Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference

The mood was decidedly somber at the 24th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (PVSEC), which took place in Hamburg, Germany earlier this month.

The low cost of Chinese x-Si products
While at the PVSEC, we also had several conversations contrasting output of Chinese crystalline silicon (x-Si) cell/module manufacturers with that of their European and Korean counterparts. Products out of China are usually far cheaper than those from their competitors, which Europeans and Koreans both insist is the result of poorer materials, lower product quality and more lax environmental compliance. The Chinese counter that the disparity in price is simply a matter of far lower labor and operational costs, and claim their products are essentially indistinguishable from a quality perspective.

Having seen the specifications and performance profiles from various suppliers, we tend to agree with the Chinese - at least for high quality players such as Yingli Green Energy and Solarfun and increasingly Suntech Power, with its new high performance Pluto cell architecture.

The power performance of Chinese products is comparable to the rest, especially as they come up the manufacturing learning curve, although it's hard to judge factors like maintenance costs. In fact, there was very little in the x-Si world to set any manufacturer of classical x-Si cells/modules apart from the rest - which seems to justify the momentum towards outsourced OEM relationships for module production recently announced by BP Solar and strongly hinted at by SunPower and REC Group.

On x-Si and thin-film competition
Most x-Si companies do not anticipate serious competition from thin-film technologies, other than First Solar. Indeed, most x-Si cell manufacturers that we spoke with have tested thin-film technologies, and consequently stepped back from it due to current and forecasted x-Si pricing. Instead, they've preferred to maintain their war chests to make opportunistic acquisitions in case a disruptive technology emerges. SunPower, Kyocera, and SolarWorld have all publicly advocated this strategy, while maintaining that they intend to stay with x-Si for the time being, as crashing prices will make it difficult for any new thin-technology to succeed.

Although we see x-Si technologies continuing to dominate for some time, it's shortsighted to adopt the semiconductor industry's mantra of "never bet against silicon,"especially in a market with as many diverse applications and technologies as solar. Indeed, the Q-Cells approach of sowing multiple speculative investments looks wise; while CSG Solar was a disastrous money-sink, CIGS investment Solibro looks poised to realize significant upside, and TF-Si developer Sunfilm and CdTe investment Calyxo are also potential successes, albeit at smaller scale. To read more insights from Lux Research analysts visit Lux Populi.
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