1/29/2013 10:57:02 AM

Solar Novus Today: Roadmap and Standards for US Solar Thin Film

Solar Novus Today

SEMI and the US Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC) today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enhance their cooperation in the areas of standards and roadmap activities for the solar thin film industry.

SEMI, a global industry association and standards development organization (SDO), serves the manufacturing supply chain for the micro and nano-electronics industries, including photovoltaics (PV), through consensus-based, collaborative activities such as PV manufacturing standards through the SEMI International Standards program, as well as technology roadmap development through the International Technology Roadmap for PV (ITRPV).

PVMC, a national industry-led consortium headquartered in New York State at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s (CNSE) Albany NanoTech Complex, is a partnership between SEMATECH and CNSE. PVMC was created as part of the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) SunShot initiative, which is designed to reduce the cost of photovoltaic solar energy systems by about 75 percent over the next decade, and brings together the solar community — including industry, academia, and government — to accelerate the development, commercialization and manufacturing of next-generation solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.

Through PVMC, CNSE and SEMATECH are spearheading a unique research, development, and commercialization partnership in which industry, academia and government are working together to drive new advances in next-generation solar cell technologies, beginning with copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin film PV manufacturing solutions — increasing performance while driving down the cost and risk of bringing them to the marketplace.

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