Help with hard cell: plan to spark up

Canberra Times
Wednesday 11/2/2009 Page: 15

A Canberra-based solar company has become the first to receive major project facilitation status from the Federal Government. The status, although not tied to funding, recognises Spark Solar Australia's plan to build a $60 million solar cell factory as being of "strategic significance to Australia". Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese said the facilitation program helped the private sector through the approval processes of federal, state and territory authorities. It also helped to identify early obstacles to greater private sector investment.

Spark Solar expected its factory to create about 115 new high-tech jobs and initially produce more than 10 million solar cells each year, or 40MW - enough to power about 9000 Australian homes. Spark Solar would produce screen printed solar cells on silicon wafers using equipment from Germany. solar cells convert sunlight to electricity and form the basic building blocks of solar panels.

The company would initially export its cells, generating an estimated $135 million in annual export revenue. It expected to inject $84 million into the local economy in its first five years. Spark Solar was considering building the factory in Canberra, Queanbeyan, Wollongong, Geelong or Adelaide. But the company's interim chief executive officer, Michelle McCann, who did a PhD in photovoltaics at the Australian National University, said it would prefer to be close to the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales for collaboration purposes.

Spark also had plans to develop its own high efficiency technology; the angled buried contact cell. The cell, developed by Dr McCann and colleagues at the University of Konstanz in Germany, is designed to save tip to 7% of energy usually lost as a result of shading at the front of the cell. It hides metal contacts, which create shade on the front of the cell, inside the cell.

Dr McCann said the market for solar cells was enormous and demand was "strong and growing". Growth in solar cell production averaged more than 40% over the past eight years. That was more than growth for digital cameras, laptops and mobile phones. "Even before the factory is built, we expect to pre-sell almost all of our output for the first few years of production," Dr McCann said.

"Australia is a world leader in solar technology. But sadly the small manufacturing base that exists here means that a lot of really excellent talent and research has gone overseas in the past. We want to change that." Its first investor was a Swiss investment fund called New Energies Invest and the company was looking for an Australian investor.