Status of the photovoltaic manufacturing technology (PVMaT) project

Abstract

The Photovoltaic Manufacturing Technology (FVMaT) project is a governmenthidustry photovoltaic manufacturing R&D project composed of partnerships between the federal government (through the U.S. Department of Energy) and members of the U.S. PV industry. It is designed to assist the U.S. PV industry in improving manufacturing processes, accelerating manufacturing cost reductions for PV modules, increasing commercial product performance, and generally laying the groundwork for a substantial scaleup of US.-based PV manufacturing plant capabilities.The project is being carried out in three separate phases, each focused on a specific approach to solving the problems identified by the industrial participants. These participants are selected through competitive procurements. Furthermore, the PVMaT project has been specifically structured to ensure that these PV manufacturing R&D subcontract awards are selected with no intention of either directing funding toward specific PV technologies (e.g., amorphous silicon, polycrystalline thin films,

Retrospective Benefit-Cost Evaluation of DOE Investment in Photovoltaic Energy Systems

“…These challenges inhibited sector and technology development. NREL, in particular, offered several prospective analyses of program goals and strategies (Surek, 1992;Mitchell et al, 1992;Witt et al, 1993), as well as retrospective assessments and case studies of technical progress and best practices to guide future endeavors (Witt et al, 2001;Margolis, 2002;Margolis et al, 2006).…”

Current status and future prospects for the PVMaT project

“…Recent accomplishments by the participants selected from the most recent PVMaT solicitation [1,2] are just now being reported in the companies' annual reviews. Some of the more noteworthy achievements are described in the following brief summaries of subcontractor activities.…”

PV Manufacturing R&D Accomplishments and Status

“…This has been accomplished through six procurements, including the latest and currently active procurement titled "In-line Diagnostics and Intelligent Processing (IDIP)." The details of these procurements have been described in a number of other papers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] and will not be reviewed here. Generally, over the course of these procurements, subcontracts have focused on three main areas.…”