http://www.ecn.nl/ News and press releases en TYPO3 - get.content.right http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Fri, 03 May 2013 14:58:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2013/05/03/ecn-organises-the-2nd-workshop-challenges-for-photovoltaic-silicon-materials-rome-7-8-october/ Rome, 7-8 October 2013 Fri, 03 May 2013 14:58:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2013/03/25/hiflex-new-organic-photovoltaic-technology-promises-flexible-cheaper-on-the-go-charging-for-mo/ A light-weight, flexible organic photovoltaic (OPV) module, which can be used as a standalone charger or integrated with small electronic products such as mobile phones or electronic packaging and labels to give them their own solar energy supply, has been developed by the Hiflex research project. As the OPV module has been developed for mobile and remote applications, it is lightweight, pliable and performs well under different light conditions. Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:34:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2013/02/21/silicon-pv-3rd-international-conference-on-silicon-photovoltaics/ 25-27 March 2013 in Hamelin, Germany Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:33:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2013/01/02/ecn-presents-state-of-the-art-n-type-pv-cells-in-worlds-largest-market-china/ ECN is front runner in the field of solar energy technology and together with the Dutch businesses Tempress, Levitech, Eurotron and European partners, it promotes state-of-the-art technology and process equipment for high-efficiency solar cells and modules. The recently held CSPV solar energy conference in China offered the perfect platform for this. Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:45:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2012/10/04/worlds-major-pv-solar-industries-at-the-4th-international-mwt-workshop/ How to achieve materials innovations and cost reductions to move from laboratory to mass production in solar energy as soon as possible? This is the main topic at the international 4th MWT Workshop on 20 and 21 November 2012 in Amsterdam.The world’s major PV industries and leading R&D institutes will present the latest trends and achievements on metal-wrap-through (MWT) cells and modules. This year, other routes will also be put into the spotlights, in a session about back-junction... Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:08:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2012/09/24/how-silicon-purity-affects-the-performance-of-solar-cells/ Most solar cells are made from crystalline silicon. Crystalline silicon is expensive because it has to be very pure to make efficient solar cells. Unfortunately, nobody knows exactly how pure and that is why manufacturers play it safe. In other words: they generally use too pure and therefore too expensive silicon. New data on the relation between solar cell performance and impurity content are very important for cost saving. Until now, data from the 1970s have been used. In the meantime,... Mon, 24 Sep 2012 09:31:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2012/06/21/workshop-economic-opportunities-pv/ On June 13th, 2012, a workshop about the economic opportunities of photovoltaics (PV) in the Netherlands took place in Amsterdam. Thu, 21 Jun 2012 11:01:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2012/04/10/sintef-and-ecn-collaboration-increase-effectiveness-in-silicon-pv-rd/ SINTEF Materials & Chemistry and ECN signed an agreement to strengthen their long-standing collaboration in the field of crystalline silicon photovoltaics. With this agreement SINTEF and ECN combine the operation of pilot infrastructure for silicon feedstock production, crystallization, wafering and solar cell manufacturing. The collaboration between SINTEF and ECN will increase the effectiveness of their R&D efforts. Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:32:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2012/02/03/new-direction-of-ecn-with-and-for-the-market/ Today, Friday 3 February, the complete Board of Directors presented ECN’s new strategy plan 2012-2015 to Mark Dierikx, Director General for Energy, Telecom and Competition of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I). Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:48:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2012/01/27/amolf-and-ecn-enter-collaboration-agreement/ The FOM Institute AMOLF and ECN signed an agreement to consolidate their collaboration. With this agreement AMOLF and ECN attempt to breach the gap between fundamental research on one side and on the other side large scale production and the actual implementation of solar cells. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:22:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/12/19/korean-posco-power-and-ecn-join-forces-in-wind-solar-and-bio-energy/ The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) and the South Korean POSCO Power have officially joined forces. By signing a Memorandum of Understanding on 15 December, both parties have agreed on future collaboration in wind, solar and bio-energy. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:08:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/11/07/market-incentives-needed-to-tap-into-huge-pv-potential/ In response to an article on the bankruptcy of the American company Solyndra, published in the Economist of 15 October, Wim Sinke speaks up for our eastern neighbours. Human-induced climate change requires a quick response. The technology that offers the largest potential, i.e. solar energy, therefore deserves a boost. Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:42:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/10/05/sunday-2011-the-latest-practical-and-rd-developments-in-the-field-of-solar-energy/ On Wednesday 12 October Agentschap NL, the Energy Research centre of the Netherlands (ECN), the FOM Foundation and Shell Research will host SunDay for the third time. What are the latest developments and innovations in the large-scale deployment of solar energy and in R&D? Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:15:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/09/05/wim-sinke-honoured-with-prestigious-award-for-outstanding-merits-in-pv/ On 5 September, Prof. Dr. Wim Sinke, senior Staff member Programme & Strategy Solar Energy at the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), received the prestigious “Becquerel Prize” at the 26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition in Hamburg, Germany. The European PV community honoured Wim Sinke for his life’s work in the field of photovoltaics. Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:43:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/09/05/solliance-en-imec-bundelen-hun-rd-in-dunne-film-zonnecellen/ Imec and Solliance today announce that imec will be a full partner of Solliance and will integrate its thin film PV R&D efforts in Solliance. With imec as a partner, Solliance aims to be an R&D cluster bringing thin film solar energy technology to excellence. The announcement will be celebrated at the annual imec booth reception at PVSEC in Hamburg on 7 September at the imec booth, hall B4G booth C11, at 16.30 o’clock. Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:45:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/09/05/worlds-first-mwt-mono-iec-certified-module/ During the upcoming PV SEC, Eurotron will show the world's first MWT-mono IEC-61215 certified module on their booth (Hall A4 / Booth A16). This module has been developed and produced by TSC Solar BV, The Netherlands. It shows a 19% cell efficiency resulting in an impressive encapsulated module efficiency of 18,1%. Development of the MWT mono n-type technology on 210 mm (8") has been done by TSC Solar in cooperation with the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN). Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:17:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/09/05/how-to-make-efficient-solar-cells-from-impure-materials/ Most solar cells are made from crystalline silicon. These solar cells are the most efficient available on the market. Crystalline silicon is expensive because it has to be very pure to make efficient solar cells from it. Unfortunately, nobody knows exactly hów pure and that is why manufacturers play it safe. In other words: they make and use more pure and hence, more expensive silicon than probably necessary. The results described in the thesis on the promotion research of Gianluca Coletti of... Mon, 05 Sep 2011 08:30:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/02/14/consortium-receives-millions-from-ec-for-roof-integrated-photovoltaic-system/ Roofing with integrated PV cells; this is what the European project PV-GUM is all about. Next to trade and industry, among which the Belgian roofing company Derbigum, Dutch knowledge institutes ECN and KEMA are also involved in this project. The project, which requires a total investment of over 11 million euros, has been granted a 6.4 million euro subsidy by the European Commission. Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:16:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/02/09/the-cooperation-in-eera-should-lead-to-an-accelerated-development-of-pv-technology/ Kick-off EERA-PV - On Monday 7 February the kick-off meeting of EERA-PV took place in Amsterdam with 50 participants from 23 European research institutes and universities. Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:19:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2010/12/13/dutch-province-of-brabant-to-invest-in-solar-energy/ A large investment in the development of solar energy in Southeast Brabant is to bring this region to the number one position in the field of solar energy and innovation in Europe. This is the ambition of knowledge institutes, businesses and authorities. On 13 December 2010, Solliance, KIC InnoEnergy and the FOM Foundation clarified their plans at the County Hall. The Provincial Council approved these plans, worth € 48,7 million, on 10 December. Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:34:00 +0100