News Article
JDSU acquires critical assets from QuantaSol for CPV solar development
QuantaSol’s combination of compound semiconductor triple junction solar cell and MQW technology will be used to accelerate JDSU’s CPV product roadmap.
JDSU has acquired critical product design, patented intellectual property and other assets from QuantaSol, a concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) provider based in the United Kingdom.
The materials used in today’s leading triple-junction cells (InGaP, InGaAs, and Ge) have been adopted from previous industrial processes and are not the optimum combination of materials to maximise the potential efficiency of a triple-junction solar cell. By tuning the sub-cells of a triple junction cell, QuantaSol‘s Multiple Quantum Well (MQW) technology allows more light to be converted to electrical power (i.e. it further enhances its efficiency).
JDSU will leverage Quantasol’s MQW technology for its CPV cell product platform.
JDSU plans to transfer key assets from QuantaSol to the JDSU headquarters in Milpitas, California over the next 6 months.
"The CPV market is gaining momentum with major installations happening worldwide," said Alan Lowe, president of the CCOP unit at JDSU. “Incorporating key QuantaSol technology will allow us to further differentiate our products and expand our position in the CPV solar market as popularity for CPV continues to grow.”
According to GreenTech Media, more than 1 GW of CPV installations are expected by 2015, a hundred-fold increase from 10 MW of installations in 2010.
JDSU CPV cells are optimised to capture different parts of the sun’s spectrum using multiple junctions, and are expected to result in conversion efficiencies exceeding 40 % in the next few years. This is an ideal range for solar system integrators. The CPV cells are specifically designed to capture concentrated sunlight at 500 to 1,000 times its original power. JDSU claims additional benefits include a small footprint, improved temperature performance, less use of semiconductor materials, and lower cost per kW compared to other photovoltaic technologies.
In addition to its new CPV technology for land installations, JDSU has been providing solar power products to the satellite industry for several decades. JDSU also provides photovoltaic solutions for the digital monitoring of smart grid power plants.
