A DuPont Co. subsidiary has opened a solar panel factory in China in an effort to learn more about emerging thin-film solar technology.

 

The 538,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Shenzhen, China, will build photovoltaic modules -- an assembly of individual cells that generate electricity from sunlight -- that incorporate a number of DuPont products, including Tedlar backsheets, Elvax encapsulants and Solamet, a printable metallic paste that generates the electric current.

 

DuPont Apollo Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary, will operate the plant, which will have an annual capacity of up to 50 megawatts of power. The company is targeting full-scale commercial production in the first quarter of 2010.

 

DuPont is expecting rapid growth in its photovoltaic business in the next few years, with projections of more than $1 billion in industry sales by 2012. The DuPont Apollo venture, established last year, represents a shift for DuPont, which supplies materials to the solar industry but had not built its own panels prior to the Shenzhen plant's opening.

 

"This is a bit of an experiment," said Marc Doyle, global business director for DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions.

 

The goal, Doyle said, is to learn more about thin-film solar technology, a fast-growing segment that costs less but offers limited efficiency compared with traditional crystalline silicon solar cells. He said the Shenzhen factory is the only such facility DuPont has planned.

 

Doyle said DuPont Apollo will market its modules to local utilities and government agencies for large "solar farms" and rooftop installations. Thin-film modules are popular for utility-scale projects because of their lower price.

 

"We are exporting modules, but the primary focus is on the domestic market in China," he said.

The thin-film segment had been growing about twice as fast as traditional solar panels, but that pace has been slowing as the price of silicon metal has come down, improving the competitiveness of crystalline silicon, Doyle said. In addition, he said banks have been more reluctant since the financial crisis to fund projects using the newer thin-film technology.