According to Sharp, it has been a driving force behind the use of photovoltaics for 50 years and has made key contributions to the development of the European solar market. The company declares thatb its silicon-based thin-film technology is a “central success factor” to the profitability of photovoltaics. Consequently, Sharp is the ideal partner when it comes to securing investment in profitable large-scale solar projects.
In Germany, EnBW is entering into the solar energy market as an investor with the Leibertingen solar park in Baden-Württemberg and has made use of Sharp‘s solar technology in the process. The same goes for PFALZWERKE AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, with its photovoltaic plant in Höheinöd, Rhineland-Palatinate.
“Together with our partners, we could realise a showcase project which will act as a beacon even beyond the boundaries of the regions”, says Peter Thiele, Executive Vice President of Sharp Energy Solution Europe. “Both solar power plants clearly demonstrate how cost-effective photovoltaics can be, especially the thin-film technology. They make it clear that photovoltaics is a secure, profitable and environmentally friendly energy technology, thus making it a lucrative future model for energy providers.”
Roughly 17,000 Sharp thin-film modules produce environmentally friendly electricity in each of the solar power plants. With an anticipated 2.1 million kilowatt hours of solar energy, each plant can supply 600 households annually and save 1,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Ideal technology for large-scale solar projects
Sharp’s second-generation microamorphous thin-film modules are used in both power plants: the 1.42 square metre silicon-based modules generate a high yield and are well-suited to sophisticated system designs thanks to their low output voltage of 60 volts.
“We put the world’s largest thin-film cell factory online in March 2010 in Sakai [Japan], thus increasing our production capacity to its current 870 megawatts,” reports Thiele. The plant also produces LCD panels in addition to solar cells, since similar production processes secure important competitive advantages for Sharp: "In Sakai, we can produce the raw material-saving thin film modules highly efficiently and cost-consciously”, Thiele continues. In the future, Sharp intends to produce thin film cells in Sakai in a microamorphous triple-junction structure and expand the production capacity to up to 1,000 megawatts.
A strong partner in a worldwide growing market
On the whole, renewable energies are increasingly gaining importance due to the rising demand for energy worldwide with a simultaneous shortage in fossil fuel resources. “For that reason, we see an immense future market in the field of large-scale solar plants, which we are already ideally set up for today”, says Thiele.
Sharp has 50 years of experience in solar technology to look back on and is the driving international force for the intensive and environmentally friendly use of photovoltaics. Sharp has been the first manufacturer of microamorphous thin-film modules since 2005 and was the third-largest player on the worldwide thin-film market in 2009. Across all photovoltaic technologies, Sharp has produced solar cells to date with total capacities far exceeding 2.5 gigawatts, making it the world’s largest photovoltaics manufacturer.
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