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To: waitwatchwander who wrote (17962)	11/7/1998 6:56:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 152472

nikkeibp.com [From within that link you gave] Photovoltaics getting cheaper. These will be good for Globalstar phones especially, but also other phones in remote or mobile situations. BP Solar [part of the BP Oil group of companies, which is buying Amoco] is strong on photovoltaics. Watch that space! Photovoltaics could end up very big time. Made from Silicon, of which there is no more shortage than there is of dirt. Mqurice --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sydney-based Pacific Solar Pty Ltd pacificsolar.com.au has produced the world's largest thin-film crystalline silicon solar cell and has done so six months ahead of schedule. Measuring 30cm x 40cm, the cell is 12 times larger than commercially available cells and the company expects to be in full-scale production of these super-size cells by the end of 2001. Pacific Solar is a A$64 million joint venture between Pacific Power Pty Ltd and the University of New South Wales' (UNSW) technology commercialization and research company, Unisearch Ltd. The work was pioneered at UNSW's Photovoltaics Special Research Centre under the direction of Professor Martin Green. Pacific Solar's managing director David Hogg said, "We have produced the world's largest thin-film crystalline silicon on glass photovoltaic modules on our pilot line at Botany in Sydney." The modules are planned to have an efficiency of about 15%, as at this early stage of the project this is seen as the best trade-off between production cost and output efficiency. The first products from the pilot line are in line with this goal. The active part of the cell is less than 10µm thick, about 1/40 of the thickness of competing cells. This means that a full-scale factory would produce modules for little more than the cost of the glass used to protect and support the thin-film cell. David Hogg said Pacific Solar aimed to be producing modules each about 1m2 by the end of 2000. Each module will have its own inverter for direct connection to 240V AC electrical circuits. ----------------------------------------------------------------- BP to Use Technology Hot on the heels of the unveiling of the super-size cell came the announcement that BP Solar Australia Pty Ltd plans to build one of the world's biggest solar photovoltaic production facilities in Sydney, more than doubling BP Solar's Australian operations. BP Solar is a subsidiary of British Petroleum Co Plc (BP) (http://www.bp.com) and its A$57 million production facility would employ technology developed at UNSW. After completion next year, the new plant would earn Australia A$100 million a year in export earnings. John Browne, the chief executive of BP, speaking by video-link from the UK, said the latest BP initiative was the company's first major step toward fulfilling its goal of selling US$1 billion worth of solar cells annually by 2007 as part of BP's "commitment to global environmental responsibility." Ken Brown, managing director of BP Solar in Australia, said the new plant would initially be able to make 20 megawatts of solar cells a year. This would make it BP's biggest solar manufacturing operation and it would be expandable to 50 megawatts.