South Africa to harness sun

South Africa is set to begin harnessing its legendary sunshine in a substantial way following the announcement on Monday of the go-head for a 115 million U.S. dollars plant to manufacture thin-film solar panels.

The country's Central Energy Fund (CEF), and Sasol will each own 45 percent of the venture, the National Empowerment Fund will hold 6.1 percent, and 3.9 percent will be held by the University of Johannesburg's intellectual property company called Photovoltaic Intellectual Property.

The thin-film panels are based on technology developed by the University of Johannesburg's Professor Vivian Alberts. The panels are described on Monday in Moneyweb, a South African Internet publication, as a major departure and a big improvement on conventional silicon-based rivals.

They will be more efficient in extracting electricity from the sun and cheaper and easier to produce. Because they are thinner than a human hair and flexible, they will have many practical advantages as well. The plant, at Paarl in the Western Cape Province, will be in production by late 2012.

The thin-film panels based on technology developed by Professor Alberts are a big improvement on conventional silicon-based rivals. In January the U.S. technology magazine, Popular Mechanics, called Professor Alberts's panel, "potentially the biggest solar energy breakthrough to date. It has taken 12 years to come up with a workable solution and now there is world-wide interest."

The panels will be more efficient in extracting electricity from the sun and cheaper and easier to produce. Because they are thinner than a human hair and flexible, they will have many practical advantages as well. Raoul Goosen, technical manager of CEF, confirmed to Moneyweb that the go-ahead of this private-public partnership had been approved in principle.

He said, "As soon as equipment guarantees have been signed, work will begin. The plant should be operational in 2012."

The new company acquired a factory at Paarl from Venfin, which was an early partner but withdrew because of its involvement in Johanna Technologies, a German firm doing similar work.

Johanna and the new company will compete globally. Half of the capital investment amount will be shareholders' equity and the other half finance from the European Investment Bank. The plant will produce 500,000 thin-film photo-voltaic panels a year with an output of 40MW.

A German supplier will install an advanced furnace. Goosen said the thin film panels could be backed by glass or flexible steel. While a thin-film solar panel extracts only 7 percent of the electricity in sunshine, Professor Alberts' panel produces 16 percent of the sun power hitting the panel.

The partners say potential for solar energy is huge, particularly in South Africa, which enjoys much sunshine.

The market in South Africa is small at present (about 5MW a year) with its producers importing silicon cells and having a local content of only 15 percent. The global market is large (7000MW) and growing at 40 percent.

The partners foresee their panels being used in telecoms off-grid tourist and leisure resorts, rural schools and clinics.

Professor Alberts's panels are revolutionary in that they do not use expensive silicon to convert sunshine directly into electricity. Based on copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS), they are only five microns thick, that is half the thickness of a human hair. They produce electricity more efficiently and two thirds more cheaply than silicon technology panels.

Source:Xinhua