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ENERGIX-Stort program energi

LOW-COST HIGH-QUALITY MONOCRYSTALLINE SILICON-INGOT CASTING

Alternative title: LOW-COST HIGH-QUALITY MONOCRYSTALLINE SILICON-INGOT CASTING

Awarded: NOK 9.4 mill.

Project Manager:

Project Number:

245346

Project Period:

2015 - 2017

Funding received from:

Enough sunlight falls to earth every hour to meet the world's energy demands for an entire year - the trick is learning how to extract that energy in a cost-effective way. Conversion of sunlight to electricity can be done by variety of methods: One of the cleanest and mostly used one is to employ the photovoltaic (PV) effect where light is converted to electrical power directly using an appropriate PV-material. Solar cells and modules made using such a material provide environmentally friendly energy for 25 years or more, practically without maintenance. Material of choice for most of today's solar modules is silicon: over 90 % of all modules produced are made using silicon as active PV material since silicon is abundant (25 % of earth's crust is made of silicon), it is non-toxic and environmentally-friendly; and its PV effect is nearly perfect. Yet for a good PV performance silicon must be very clean (99.99999 % purity) and structurally perfect (largest crystal structure known to mankind). These conditions, however, increase the cost of silicon for the use of solar-electricity. Norwegian Crystals AS specialises production of highly pure crystalline-silicon. The main product, mono-crystal silicon blocks, are produced in specialised furnaces in very clean conditions. In this project we deleveloped furnace designs, materials and processes allowing us to produce higher quality silicon blocks to lower cost so enabling reducing the cost of solar electricity such that it becomes an even more competitive alternative to conventional, fossil based energy sources. During the course of the project we developed specialised equipments working under extreme conditions (high temperatures up to 1500 C at very low pressures) allowing us to increase the productivity, yield and material quality.

Solar Electricity based on Photovoltaic (PV) technologies is competitive in several markets and projected cost reductions will make it a major energy source within less than a decade. This requires continuous cost reduction and technological improvements in production processes and materials. PV-companies must be on par with these requirements, not only to be able to stay competitive but also to exist in the future. In this project we will develop new processes and materials for production of high-quality and low-cost silicon for PV-solar market. The project team consist of Norwegian Crystals AS, whose furnace technology will be advanced beyond state of the art, and SINTEF who are one of the world leaders in silicon materials for solar-cell applications. The project targets crystal-growth solutions via radical furnace hot-zone constructions by utilising innovative thermal designs, using possible new materials and employing novel process-methods. These will be realised by a combination of fundamental understanding of material behaviour, gained from laboratory-scale model-systems and by industrial-scale trials where both evidence-based and statistical-analysis methods, supported by numerical simulations, are utilised. Total value creation of the project in terms of cost-reduction can be estimated to be around 40 % reduction in conversion cost, which corresponds to an annual saving of 30-40 MNOK, while the project is envisaged for duration of 3 years with a total budget of 26 MNOK.

Funding scheme:

ENERGIX-Stort program energi