This is the first of Xunlight's full-scale production lines to be installed in its Toledo, Ohio facility.
Xunlight's proprietary roll-to-roll PV manufacturing equipment is redefining the industry as a low-cost, high-throughput solution to large-scale solar cell production. The 25MW solar cell manufacturing equipment, a 200-feet long series of connected vacuum deposition chambers, uses a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process to deposit thin-film silicon solar cells on a 3ft wide, one-mile-long thin stainless steel substrate at a speed of 720-square feet per hour. This manufacturing process is inherently lower-cost and more productive than competing technologies, and is designed, developed and constructed by Xunlight Corporation.
The company has demonstrated continuous, uniform deposition of triple-junction thin-film silicon solar cells from this 25MW wide-web roll-to-roll production equipment. Xunlight plans to replicate three additional 25MW production lines by the end of 2010, to achieve 100MW capacity.
Since mid-2008, Xunlight has been optimizing its manufacturing process using a pilot production line, which also utilizes its proprietary roll-to-roll equipment with a 3ft wide web. Large-area solar modules produced in this pilot line have demonstrated 9.2% initial aperture-area efficiency, which, after extended light exposure, is expected to stabilize at 7.8% aperture-area module efficiency.
"For a company striving to become a low-cost producer of solar panels, having completed the development, design and construction of its first large-scale production equipment is undoubtedly a major milestone," said Xunlight CEO Dr. Xunming Deng. "This important achievement would not be possible without the dedication and hard work of the Xunlight team, the commitment of our investors, and support from the State and federal government."
"We commend Xunlight for their leadership and commitment to advancing solar power technology here in Ohio," said Governor Ted Strickland. "Their efforts will help the state meet its renewable energy goals and create jobs in Ohio's fast-growing energy sector. We are pleased the State of Ohio was able to play a major role in Xunlight's success. The hundreds of high-paying jobs to be created at Xunlight in the next few years will contribute to our recovery effort and help stimulate Ohio's economy."
