The panels the plant would produce would be the most efficient of their type, GE said. The panels have achieved efficiency of nearly 13 percent, the highest that's been reported for so-called thin film technology.
The plant would begin production by 2013. GE said it will decide on a site for the factory in the next 90 to 100 days.
The announcement comes just two days after the U.S. Department of Energy announced it would award $57.5 million to the University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering to establish a solar panel manufacturing consortium similar to the Sematech consortium in the late 1980s that boosted the nation's semiconductor industry.
GE at this time isn't part of that consortium, a company official said.
GE's factory would be able to produce 400 megawatts of solar panels annually, the company said. A megawatt is enough to power as many as 800 homes.
The Capital Region might be a natural for the plant. After all, GE's global research efforts are based in Niskayuna, and its renewable energy headquarters is in Schenectady.
But Colorado is also in the running. GE said Thursday it had acquired the rest of solar panel manufacturer PrimeStar Solar, which is headquartered in the Denver suburb of Arvada. It was PrimeStar that produced the panel that achieved an efficiency of nearly 13 percent.
Nearby Golden, Colo., is the site of the National Renewable Energy Lab.
Victor Abate, vice president of GE's renewable energy business, said site selection would be based on a number of factors, including the site's proximity to scientific and engineering talent; the economics of the site, such as the cost and availability of utilities, power, and water; the supply chain for necessary materials; and federal, state and local incentives.
"These are extremely large factories," Abate said.
He also mentioned Greenville, S.C., as a possible site.
Local officials said they'd work hard to convince GE to choose the Capital Region.
"We hope to be considered for the new solar panel manufacturing plant and we will do everything we can to work cooperatively with GE, as we have done successfully so many times, to present the best possible case for making this new investment in Schenectady County," said Susan Savage, chairwoman of the Schenectady County legislature.
GE's panel uses cadmium telluride as the photovoltaic material in its panels. That's the same material used by First Solar Inc., the world's largest producer of solar panels.
The Albany Nanotech consortium is focusing its efforts on CIGS panels, which use copper, indium, gallium selenide films.
More common are the silicon solar cells, which make up about 70 to 80 percent of the market, said Pradeep Haldar, vice president for clean energy programs at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany. Those cells have efficiencies ranging from 15 to 22 percent.
While the thin film varieties -- GE's cadmium telluride, plus CIGS and a third type consisting of amorphous silicon -- are less efficient, they may be more cost effective because the material required costs less, although the panels typically occupy more area, Haldar said.
Thursday's announcements are the latest in GE's renewable energy efforts. Last week it announced it had completed the acquisition of power conversion company Converteam, which produces converters and related equipment to produce usable AC power.
GE said each 1 percent increase in solar panel efficiency translates into a 10 percent reduction in the cost of the system. Abate said cost was "the biggest barrier for the mainstream adoption of solar technology."
Haldar said the Albany Nanotech consortium chose to pursue the CIGS technology because potential efficiencies could reach 20 percent. With cadmium telluride, "you've got to have some breakthrough technologies to get above 14 percent," he said.
Abate said GE has achieved gains in efficiency at four times the industry rate. By 2013, he expects the panels coming out of the factory will be even more efficient.
SOURCE: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/GE-seeks-solar-plant-1326772.php
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