THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Archive for November, 2011

MiaSole Replaces CEO

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — MiaSole Inc., a closely held manufacturer of thin-film solar panels, today hired John Carrington as chief executive officer to replace Joseph Laia.

Carrington, who left First Solar Inc. more than two years ago, said he plans to focus on increasing panel efficiency to 15 percent next year. MiaSole, based in Santa Clara, California, currently sells panels that convert about 13 percent of sunlight into electricity.

“I see a very credible road map to 15 percent and I think we can get there in 2012,” Carrington said today in an interview. “That’s more important than scaling up capacity at this point.”

Carrington was executive vice president of global marketing and business development at Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar, the world’s largest thin-film company.

Thin-film solar panels are made with a highly automated process that consumes about half as much energy as the more common silicon panels made mostly in Asia, according to the U.S. Energy Department. MiaSole coats stainless steel cells with a layer of copper-indium-gallium-selenide, or CIGS, that’s sandwiched between sheets of glass.

Is it Time to shine for Solar Power?

The high costs that for years made it impractical as a mainstream source of energy are plummeting. Real estate companies are racing to install solar panels on office buildings. Utilities are erecting large solar panel “farms” near big cities and in desolate deserts. And creative financing plans are making solar more realistic than ever for homes.

Solar power installations doubled in the United States last year and are expected to double again this year. More solar energy is being planned than any other power source, including nuclear, coal, natural gas and wind.

“We are at the beginning of a turning point,” says Andrew Beebe, who runs global sales for Suntech Power, a manufacturer of solar panels.

Solar’s share of the power business remains tiny. But its promise is great. The sun splashes more clean energy on the planet in one hour than humans use in a year, and daytime is when power is needed most. And solar panels can be installed near where people use power, reducing or eliminating the costs of moving power through a grid.

Solar power has been held back by costs. It’s still about three times more expensive than electricity produced by natural gas, according to estimates by the Energy Information Administration.

But the financial barriers are falling fast. Solar panel prices have plunged by two-thirds since 2008, making it easier for installers to market solar’s financial benefits, and not simply its environmental ones.