The SunPower Story. The path from R&D concentrator cells to a high volume PV panel and system manufacturer. Dick Swanson

Transcription

1 The SunPower Story The path from R&D concentrator cells to a high volume PV panel and system manufacturer 1 Dick Swanson

2 Situation in 1975 Wafered Silicon Process Polysilicon Wafer Solar Cell Solar Module Systems Ingot $300/kg 3 inches in diameter Sawn one at a time 0.5 watts each $100/watt $200/watt

3 1975 View Wafered Silicon Hopelessly Too Expensive Breakthrough Needed Thin Films Concentrators Remote Power Solar Farms 3

4 What Actually Happened Wafered Silicon Emerges as the Dominant Technology Breakthrough Needed Thin Films Concentrators DOE Wafered Silicon Program Remote Power Solar Farms Residential/ Commercial Grid connected 4

5 PV Market Growth Rapid Growth in Subsidized, Grid-Connected Market. 41% CAGR 1000 MW/yr % Wafered Silicon 10 Early period of rapid innovation and growth Year

6 Prices Have Followed a Classic Experience Curve Module Price (2002 $/W) $100 $ Historical $ ,000 10, ,000 Cumulative Production (MW) 6

7 Predictable Cost Reductions Module Price (2002 $/W) $ $10 Cumulative Production (MW) Historical Projected We know how But not this to 2000 do this Roadmap $ ,000 10, ,000 7

8 1975 TO 1985 Technology Creation 8

9 The Point Contact Cell (27.0% 200x) Low Recombination Minimal diffused regions Oxide/Alneal passivated surfaces Point arrangement of pn-junctions High injection operation High Generation Zero grid obscuration High-res, high-tau wafers Good internal optics Low Parasitics Rear electrodes Double level metallization High-tau FZ wafers Multiple High-tau Tube Diffusions Photolithographic Features Photo from M.A. Green, CLEAN ELECTRICITY FROM PHOTOVOLTAICS, eds Mary D Archer & Robert Hill (Imperial College Press, 2001) 9

10 Phoenix Skyharbor 225 kw,

11 My concentrator group visits PG&E, ca

12 1990: SunPower begins operations 12

13 The Cell Pilot Line 13

14 Chose PV central receiver to commercialize 14

15 First products 200 watt dense array Fresnel lens cell for EPRI 15

16 Went to Sandia CRTF to test dense arrays 16

17 1992 was a bad year Sandia Concentrator Initiative Cancelled EPRI Contract Cancelled 17

18 Honda Dream 18

19 Learning a little about manufacturing 19

20 Winning 1993 World Solar Challenge 20

21 Surviving on Opto Components

22 NASA/AeroVironment Helios 100,000 feet Record Altitude for an airplane 22

23 Solar Powered Airplane Communication Platform 23

24 Concentrator Cells for Solar Systems, Pty. 24

25 Textured front surface 240 μ thick monocrystalline silicon wafer P N + 25 Project Mercury: Develop a low-cost back-junction cell

26 May 1, 2000 Fateful Decision: Abandon Concentrators and Concentrate on Flat-Plate PV (Throw away the lens) Lession: Keep it simple 26

27 Cypress Synergies Highest efficiency solar cells: Strong technical expertise - 15 years of solar cell R&D expertise Solar cells and opto-electronics World leader in ultra-high efficiency solar cells The volume manufacturer: Building cost effective products for 20 years $1 bn revenue in 2004 Leading edge, high volume wafer fabs Broad portfolio of integrated circuits 27

28 2002, SunPower Goes to Texas A300 Pilot Line 28

29 Osaka 2003: Introduced the 20% A-300 Solar Cell Back Side Front Side 29

30 SunPower Grand Opening March 18 th, No ve mb er SunPower Confidential 30

31 SunPower goes public, November 16 th,

32 Pre-trading, every order is for SPWR 32

33 2007 Merger

34 SunPower Applications Residential Retrofit Power Plants New Production Homes Commercial & Public

35 T20 Tracker Tilted Tracking Increases Energy Delivery Non-Penetrating Foundations Decrease Installation Time 35

36 Full Circle: Power Plants Re-emerge SunPower can build 1 MW per day, from factory to field 36

37 PG&E Announces 800 MW PV Power Plants Two Large Solar Plants Planned in California Companies will build two solar power plants in California that together will put out more than 12 times as much electricity as the largest such plant today, the latest indication that solar energy is starting to achieve significant scale. Here Comes the Sun Power Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announced plans Thursday to buy 800 megawatts of photovoltaic solar power from two Bay Area companies - a giant deal that would provide enough electricity to power 239,000 homes and would create the country's first utilityscale photovoltaic plants. PG&E Announces Two Huge Solar Deals SunPower, Optisolar Plan Nation s Biggest Plants in San Luis Obispo County PG&E Orders Photovoltaic Plant PG&E, a California power company, has placed an order for what are believed to be the world s two biggest photovoltaic solar farms, giving a strong endorsement to a technology that few power generators have yet considered to be ready for utility-scale use. For more than a year, San Jose's SunPower has been touting a 14-megawatt photo-voltaic solar array at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas as the largest in the nation. That's about to change in a big way. Pacific Gas & Electric announced two deals Thursday that will result in 800 megawatts of power from massive facilities using PV panels enough to power nearly a quarter-million homes, according to the utility. 37

38 Solar PV Is Cost Competitive* From a utility perspective, what matters is not grid parity, but rather the lowest marginal cost for new capacity. Renewable Energy Solar PV Solar Thermal Wind $44 91 $ $ Conventional generation issues: long permitting period long construction financing carbon issue overhang fuel uncertainty increasing construction costs Conventional Gas Peaking Gas Combined Cycle $ $ *With the ITC Levelized Cost ($/MWh) Timeframe Source: Lazard, June

39 Examples of European Projects with SunPower Tracking Technology (all of those plants are now fully connected to the grid) Isla Mayor Spain, 8.4 MW SunPower T0 Tracker Muehlhausen, Bavaria, Germany, 6 MW SunPower T0 Tracker Trujillo, Extremadura, Spain-Elecnor 23 MW SunPower T0 Tracker Jumilla, Murcia, Spain-Elecnor 23 MW SunPower T0 Tracker Serpa, Portugal 11 MW SunPower T0 Tracker Lebrija, Spain, 3.84 MW SunPower T0 Tracker 39

40 Nellis AFB, Nevada 40

41 41 THANK YOU