Commercial Production of Thin Film CdTe Photovoltaic Modules: Final Report

This final report summarizes the status of Golden Photon Inc.'s (GPI) progress in 1996 in each of 5 tasks. Task 12: Engineering Design, which includes the following areas: film-application process improvements, reduction in CdTe waste and improved repeatability, compression, regrowth oven, etch, division, tin evaporation, post tin-evaporation division, edge delete, and border isolation. Task 13:Process Improvement and Development, for which the Operations and Research Development group targeted key areas in the process and determined the extent of measurement that was occurring or needed to be developed, and the Research and Development group completed and implemented a means to measure cadmium sulfide film thickness in an on-line fashion. Task 14: Cost Improvement of Raw Materials,which included a new encapsulation scheme that was fully implemented in 1996; minimizing purchasing activities in the latter part of 1996 because of a realignment focus at GPI; and maintaining GPI's raw material inventories at adequate levels during process scaling early in 1996 to allow production ample time for material qualification in production. Task 15: Environment, Safety, and Health,which, in the area of compliance, includes compliance to OSHA and Jefferson County standards; in the area of employee exposure, an alarm system was installed to give maximum warning to the employees in the case of a dust collection failure and interlocks installed on cadmium processing equipment to automatically shut down operations in the case of reduced dust collection flow; and in the area ofwaste minimization, includes a waste plan to provide procedures and training for accumulating, permitted compacting, stabilization, temporary storage, and disposal of all waste streams generated at the facility. Task 16: Manufacturing Cost and Productivity Optimization, which includes, for 1996, an increased power average for 24' x 24' PV modules (from 21 watts/panel to over 25 watts/panel, andthe highest power attained was in excess of 30 watts). The report also lists GPI's milestones and deliverables since work on the subcontract began.