Solar Frontier
{{Short description|Japanese manufacturer of CIS thin-film solar modules}}
{{Infobox company
|name = Solar Frontier KK
|logo = Solar Frontier logo.JPG
|logo_size = 200px
|type = Subsidiary
|traded_as =
|foundation = 2006 as Showa Shell Solar
|location = Daiba Frontier Bldg, 2-3-2, Daiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo 135-8074
|area_served = Worldwide
| key_people = Shigeaki Kameda
(CEO), Brooks Herring
(Director of International Business)
| industry = Engineering
| products = Solar panels
| revenue =
| operating_income =
| net_income =
| assets =
| equity =
| num_employees =
| parent = Showa Shell Sekiyu
| subsid =
| homepage = {{url|www.solar-frontier.com/eng/}}
}}
Solar Frontier Kabushiki Kaisha is a Japanese photovoltaic company that develops and manufactures thin film solar cells using CIGS technology. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu and located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company was founded in 2006 as Showa Shell Solar, and renamed Solar Frontier in April 2010.Business Week [https://archive.today/20130118170925/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=52311569 Company Overview of Solar Frontier K.K.] Retrieved on September 26, 2012
Background
Solar Frontier's parent company Showa Shell Sekiyu had been involved with solar energy since 1978. Production on a commercial scale of crystalline silicon modules for solar cells began in 1983, and research on CIS (copper-indium-selenium) technology began in 1993.Solar Frontier [http://www.solar-frontier.com/eng/aboutus/index.html About Us] Retrieved on October 3, 2012
Manufacturing plants
Solar Frontier has manufacturing plants in Miyazaki Prefecture,Solar Frontier [http://www.solar-frontier.com/eng/news/2010/C002163.html Solar Frontier Opens “Miyazaki Solar Park” October 1, 2010] Retrieved on September 26, 2012 where it develops and manufactures CIS solar panels, that combine CIGS and CIGSe materials. The company emphasizes the fact that it uses neither cadmium (Cd) nor lead (Pb) for its cells.{{cite web |url=http://www.solar-frontier.com/eng/technology/Ecology/index.html |work=Solar Frontier |title=CIS – Ecology |access-date=July 5, 2015}} CIGS technology often uses a thin (< 50 nm) CdS buffer layer, and the semiconductor material of rival CdTe-technology itself contains the toxic cadmium (Cd), while conventional crystalline silicon modules use a lead-containing solder material.
{{cite web
|last1=Werner
|first1=Jürgen H.
|title=TOXIC SUBSTANCES IN PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULES
|url=http://www.postfreemarket.net/pdf/japan1.pdf
|website=postfreemarket.net
|publisher=Institute of Photovoltaics, University of Stuttgart, Germany - The 21st International Photovoltaic Science and Engineering Conference 2011 Fukuoka, Japan
|access-date=23 September 2014
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221045847/http://www.postfreemarket.net/pdf/japan1.pdf
|archive-date=21 December 2014
|page=2
|date=2 November 2011
|url-status=live
}}
The company's largest plant is located at Kunitomi and has been operating since its soft opening in February, 2011, with a production capacity of close to 1 GW per year (900 MW).{{cite web |url=http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/04/solar-frontier-opens-largest-thin-film-plant-in-the-world |title=Solar Frontier Opens Largest Thin-film Plant in the World |publisher=RenewableEnergyWorld.com |author=Robert Crowe |date=27 April 2011}}
In April 2015, Solar Frontier completed the construction of its fourth production plant, the 150-megawatt Tohoku Plant, in Ōhira, Miyagi Prefecture, which started commercial production in June 2016.{{cite web |url=http://www.solar-frontier.com/eng/news/2016/C055974.html |title=Solar Frontier's Tohoku Plant Begins Commercial Production |publisher=Solar Frontier |date=1 June 2016 |access-date=3 June 2016}} The latest CIS line technology includes solar modules with conversion efficiencies of over 15%.{{cite web |url=http://www.solar-frontier.com/eng/news/2015/C044372.html |title=Solar Frontier Completes Construction of the Tohoku Plant |publisher=Solar Frontier |date=2 April 2015 |access-date=30 April 2015}} When compared to the Kunitomi Plant, the Tohoku Plant requires only two-thirds the investment and manpower per megawatt. It also requires only one-third the time to manufacture a CIS solar panel.
CIS technology
CIS stands for the key ingredients copper, indium and selenium. CIS technology, however, uses a material that is a mixture of a solid solution of CIS (CuInSe) and CGS (CuGaSe) containing the element gallium. Depending on the ratio of CIS and CGS the chemical formula for the resulting CIGS semiconductor material is written as CuInxGa(1-x)Se2, where the value of x can vary from 1 (pure CIS) to 0 (pure CGS). In addition, Solar Frontier's semiconductor also contains sulfur. It is a tetrahedrally bonded semiconductor, with the chalcopyrite crystal structure. The bandgap varies continuously with x from about 1.0 eV (for copper indium selenide) to about 1.7 eV (for copper gallium selenide).{{cite journal|doi=10.1002/pssa.2211240206|title=Phase Diagram and Optical Energy Gaps for CuInyGa1−ySe2 Alloys|year=1991|last1=Tinoco|first1=T.|last2=Rincón|first2=C.|last3=Quintero|first3=M.|last4=Pérez|first4=G. Sánchez|journal=Physica Status Solidi A|volume=124|issue=2|page=427|bibcode = 1991PSSAR.124..427T }} Solar Frontier underlines the fact that their CIS modules generate a higher energy yield (kilowatt-hours per kilowatt-peak) in real world conditions than conventional crystalline silicon modules.
See also
- Copper indium gallium selenide solar cells (CIGS technology)
- Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS material)
- List of CIGS companies
- Solar power in Japan
- Thin film solar cell