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Diversification strategies in the photovoltaic market: reduce CO2 emissions during the manufacture o

In the changing current market, manufacturers of photovoltaic modules need good reasons to convince potential customers that their products are better than those from their competition. The Norwegian company REC has approached this issue in a very direct way.

Since its founding in 196_ as a wafer producer, it has steadily been introducing itself in all the sectors related to the manufacturing of PV modules as a final product and now it controls everything from the production of silicon, to the final assembly of the module.

At the company´s headquarters, in Oslo, they state that the module saves in a year all the CO2 that was necessary for its manufacturing and that, is the smallest percentage in the entire PV market. This time, which the module needs to generate all the energy that was necessary for its production, is different depending on where it´s installed. In southern Europe, for instance, where the radiation is higher, it´s a year and a half. According to a study by the University of Utrecht, in 1997, REC modul es were already the most useful in the market.

The company´s newest factory, which will be located in the U.S., it´s going to be built according to a criteria that will allow to reduce these figures even further. For example, the silane will be produced using a fluidized bed reactor method, which saves 80% of energy compared to the Siemens process. In the Siemens reactors, which are used by most producers of polycrystalline silicon modules, silicon is placed in shelves that are at 500 degrees higher than the corresponding walls. In the method that REC follows, however, the temperature is much lower.

Higher savings are expected through oven crystallization of ling ores, which crystallize three to four more times in each cycle than conventional ovens. REC also has a smaller amount of aluminum and glass in each module. Likewise, the company installs its factories in places where much of the energy needed is supplied by hydroelectric power and energy, is the highest cost in the production of photovoltaic panels, says a company representative.

This company also says that it intends to sell the modules not only because of their ecological arguments, but also because of their quality.