Green and Gold Energy has chosen Emcore to provide it with $24 million worth of solar cells, the biggest concentrator photovoltaics order so far.
Emcore's Alberquerque, New Mexico, based photovoltaic division will deliver three million triple-junction cells to Green and Gold Energy (GGE) in Glynde, Australia, by the end of 2008.
Emcore's cells are optimized for use in GGE's SunCube terrestrial concentrator system, which will be deployed in solar power farms, with support from the Australian government, providing a total power output of 105 MW.
The SunCube provides 1100-fold concentration of light, which is then focused on Emcore's GaInP/GaAs/Ge triple junction cells for conversion into electricity.
“This production contract confirms Emcore’s position as the leader in concentrator cell technology and high volume manufacturing,” said David Danzilio, vice-president and general manager of the company’s photovoltaics division.
“Concentrated photovoltaic cells are optimized for our customers’ systems to yield state-of-the-art performance with the lowest cost per kW-hr.”
Emcore currently has 70-75 MW annual manufacturing capacity for its 39 percent conversion solar cells in place and has already announced plans to expand further in 2008.
The need to expand now looks to be even more pressing, with GGE needing 105 MW in a little over 15 months from now, exceeding Emcore’s existing maximum output levels.
Although total proposed photovoltaic farm size is not amongst the records set by this announcement, the demand from GGE could certainly challenge existing candidates if used all in one deployment.
One widely heralded contender in Portugal opened earlier this year with only 11 MW in place.
Another potential record-breaking farm to be built in Australia, with a proposed 154 MW capacity, is to use concentrated photovoltaics with “high performance solar cells originally developed to power satellites” – a strong hint where Emcore’s cells from this deal will end up, perhaps?