Breakthrough Solar Technology Takes Root in Thuringia

Solar panels can also be decorative.

When Dr. Dieter Bonnet developed a revolutionary new way to make solar modules in Franfurt, West Germany in the 1970’s, few would have guessed that the first commercial plant to make them commercially would be built in Thuringia, in eastern Germany.

This new process, called “Advanced Thin Film Technology” or ATF, needs no silicon to make photovoltaic panels that generate clean electricity for buildings and homes.

Using a single fully automated manufacturing process, Advanced Thin Film Technology produces solar modules an average of 70% cheaper than the current silicon-based crystalline technology.

A key to the cost-savings is that ATF technology uses a substance called cadmium telluride that is extremely cheap. Silicon represents 45% of the cost of making today’s standard solar cell.

Although slightly less efficient than silicon-based chips (10% vs. 12%), ATF has worldwide implications for the future of building efficiencies, housing construction and solar power. ATF solar panels can be produced in a variety of colors. They work well at low light levels.

Total performance is enhanced by the excellent reliability and frameless construction of the panels. The manufacturer of this new type of solar panel, a small company called Antec-Solar GmbH, recently completed production tests on its new plant in Arnstadt, located just outside Thurigia’s historic capital city of Erfurt in eastern Germany.

Company CEO Karl-Heinz Fischer expects to turn out 130,000 solar modules in 2002. That represents 10 megawatts of power that can be produced from solar energy. At full capacity, Antec-Solar will be able to produce 180,000 to 200,000 commercial solar panels per year with a total of 90 employees operating in three shifts. This would be equal to the output of a 100,000 square meter ara of solar panels.

Antec-Solar, which was founded in 1996, selected not Franfurt, where it all started, but Arnstadt, Thuringia as the site of its first production plant. There were three principal reasons:

• Talent: Highly specialized process engineers are available who are graduates of nearby universities in Erfurt, Jena, Weimer, and Ilmenau.

• Logistics: Arnstadt is near the autobahn with both airline and modern train service to major cities.

• Financial support: Substantial subsidies from the European Union, as much as 50% of a new company’s hard cost investment in eastern Germany, are available to companies coming to eastern Germany until 2004.

In addition to direct subsidies, the Thuringia Economic Development Agency provided a site for the plant at no cost to the company and paid for renovations of vacant buildings.

Suppliers: Many of the raw materials needed are produced in nearby Dresden and in the Czech Republic.

Antec-Solar has already attracted the attention of major competitors. British Petroleum (BP) and Antec-Solar are working together on a recycling program for cadmium telluride solar modules and jointly promote thin film technology.

The State of California is negotiating with Antec-Solar to provide supplies of ATF solar panels for its power grid. ATF panels work best when very large space is available for solar power collection.

Solar energy in Germany was given a boost several years ago when an incentive program was passed that gives private renewable energy producers, such as homeowners with solar modules, about 50 cents for each kilowatt hour of electricity produced.

Today, 95% of all commercial solar cells in Germany are crystalline silicon. But the supply of silicon chips has been historically unreliable and this situation has created major problems for silicon-dependent solar cell manufacturers in Germany and elsewhere.

Antec-Solar has come a long way since its founding a few years ago. But pioneer researcher Dr. Bonnet still works for the company he helped to create as a special consultant and he is continuing to improve the company’s solar module technology.

The future of Antec-Solar GmbH in our increasingly energy-dependent world appears to be as bright as sunshine. For further information see www.antec-solar.de.—