The company says the grant will enable further research, development and manufacturing programs to ensure Sliver solar photovoltaic panels remain a competitive technology. This would help Australia regain its global market share in the photovoltaic sector, according to Origin.
Sliver was invented in conjunction with the Australian National University’s Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems. A $1 million grant from the Government’s Australian Greenhouse Office also contributed to the technology development.
Construction of the Origin Energy Solar manufacturing plant was completed in September 2004, with first modules reaching pre-production in December 2004.
Origin and ANU said Sliver offered improved tolerance to partial shade, which equals better real world performance, and use of just one-tenth of the costly silicon used in conventional solar panels while matching power, performance and efficiency.
"A solar panel using Sliver Cell technology needs the equivalent of two silicon wafers to convert sunlight to 140 watts of power. By comparison, a conventional solar panel needs about 60 silicon wafers to achieve this performance," said ANU Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems director Professor Andrew Blakers.
"By dramatically reducing the amount of expensive pure silicon, the largest cost in solar panels today, this new technology represents a major advance in solar power technology."
Construction of the Origin Energy Solar manufacturing plant was completed in September last year, with first modules reaching pre-production in December 2004. Progressively larger modules were produced during this year.
