Recording of Wednesday, June 19, 2024 | The smarter E Europe | Exhibition Program | Language: English | Duration: 20:00 .

Dr. Holger H. Kuehnlein of RENA Technologies Discusses Gigawatt Scale Wet Chemical Processes for High-Performance Crystalline Silicon Solutions in PV Manufacturing

Dr. Holger H. Kuehnlein, Senior Vice President Technology of Rena Technologies, discusses high-performance crystalline silicon solutions for gigawatt-scale manufacturing with an emphasis on wet chemical processes. Rena Technologies, founded in 1993 and based in the Black Forest, employs around 1,200 people and has over 3,300 installations worldwide. The company focuses primarily on preparing surfaces through various wet chemical processes crucial for subsequent steps. Dr. Kuehnlein highlights TOPCon (Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact) and heterojunction technologies as key to their approach while emphasizing only equipment above one gigawatt capacity. He explains that mainstream TOPCon production involves several essential wet chemical steps like texturing after boron diffusion and edge isolation using a combination of inline machines and batch processing tools. RENA was pioneering single-site treatments but now integrates specialized additives during the batch process to enhance efficiency further. Given new market demands from Europe, India, and the US focusing on cost-of-ownership aspects—like power consumption reduction—RENA is tailoring its innovations accordingly. Collaborations with institutions like Fraunhofer help push throughput limits while maintaining efficiency rates above industry standards at about four to five meters per minute transport speed within their systems.

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Talk of session: Charting the Course for Cell Development: Pioneering Industrial Strategies

The technology for wafer, cell, and module production is continuously advancing. Currently, silicon-based solar modules hold approximately 97 percent of the global market share. While the passivated emitter and rear cell concept (PERC) remains prevalent, there is a notable shift towards tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon), expected to lead in terms of market share by the end of 2024, alongside silicon heterojunction (SHJ), and interdigitated back contact (IBC) cells. The transition to these technologies is fast, for which innovative cell manufacturing approaches are considered.European machine manufacturers are at the forefront of providing solutions to the global market. Their cutting-edge equipment is designed to facilitate the high-quality and efficient production of solar cells. In this session, machine and equipment suppliers, together with European cell manufacturers, will discuss the current state-of-the-art production technology and future trends in the post-TW market.

Further Talks of this session:

Welcome and Introduction

To Talk

3SUN the First PV European Gigafactory: Enabling Progress with Sustainable Energy

To Talk

Cost-Effective Vacuum Coatings for GW Solar Cell Production

To Talk

CARBON: Pioneering an Integrated Industrial Approach in European Solar Manufacturing

To Talk

Advanced High Throughput Vacuum Deposition Tools for Current and Future Solar Applications

To Talk