Sharp Starts Building Thin Film Modules in Germany

Hamburg, Germany: 

For the first time, Sharp Energy Solutions Europe is building solar power plants for energy providers in Germany. It is a project in cooperation with EnBW Erneuerbare Energien GmbH on the one hand and a project for the Pfalzwerke Aktiengesellschaft through the partner Eurosol on the other.

With an investment of around € 6 million in 2009, both megawatt projects promise good yields. Sharp’s silicon-based thin-film technology is a central success factor for the profitability of photovoltaics.

EnBW is entering into the solar energy market as an investor with the Leibertingen solar park in Baden-Württemberg and makes use of Sharp‘s solar technology in the process. The same goes for Pfalzwerke Aktiengesellschaft, with its photovoltaic plant in Höheinöd, Rhineland-Palatinate.

“Together with our partners, we could realise a showcase project which will act as a beacon even beyond the boundaries of the regions”, says Peter Thiele, Executive Vice President of Sharp Energy Solution Europe. “Both solar power plants clearly demonstrate how cost-effective photovoltaics can be, especially the thin-film technology. They make it clear that photovoltaics is a secure, profitable and environmentally friendly energy technology, thus making it a lucrative future model for energy providers.”

Roughly 17,000 Sharp thin-film modules produce environmentally friendly electricity in each of the solar power plants.

Second-generation microamorphous thin-film modules are used in both power plants: the 1.42 square metre silicon-based modules generate a high yield and are well-suited to sophisticated system designs thanks to their low output voltage of 60 volts.

“We put the world’s largest thin film cell factory online in March 2010 in Sakai, thus increasing our production capacity to its current 870 megawatts,” reports Peter Thiele. The technology enterprise also produces LCD panels in addition to solar cells here. The similar production processes secure important competitive advantages for Sharp:

"In Sakai, we can produce the raw material-saving thin film modules highly efficiently and cost-consciously”, Peter Thiele continues.

In the future, Sharp intends to produce thin film cells in Sakai in a microamorphous triple-junction structure and expand the production capacity to up to 1,000 megawatts.

source:  Sharp Energy