Chinese firm JinkoSolar Holding will print silicon ink to create higher efficiency solar cells and push down production costs of modules.
The expanding producer of ingots, wafers cells and modules will buy the silicon inks from US-based nanotech developer Innovalight.
Under the terms of the agreement JinkoSolar will purchase silicon ink from Innovalight and license its processing technology to produce solar cells with conversion efficiencies higher than 18.6%. Production of the cells using the ink will start in 2011.
Capacity
The agreement follows JinkoSolar Holding's growth of its annual solar cell and solar module production capacities to 600MW. Expanding capacity was achieved ahead of schedule to meet demand for JinkoSolar's products, which exceed 540MW for 2011.
Innovalight's ink and technology lets solar manufacturers deposit very thin conductive tracks during cell production, allowing more cell surface area to absorb light and boosting their conversion percentages to up to 19%, while driving down the cost of solar per watt. The ink is deposited by a cost-effective screen printing step that can be integrated into existing manufacturing.
Cost savings
The agreement with JinkoSolar follows a string of 2010 deals between Innovalight and solar manufacturers, all in China, and all looking to reduce the cost of solar production to meet growing demand for renewable energy.
In October integrated solar manufacturer Solarfun licensed Innovalight's process and bought silicon ink to improve the efficiencies of its crystal silicon materials, and Yingli Green Energy has a collaborative agreement in place with Innovalight.
To be in a better position to exploit the predominant market for its technology, Innovalight set up a China office in Q3 2010.
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