Shortage and high price of silicon has led the manufactures to think for better solutions for making their products cost-effective. Sun Power, one of the major company that produces solar panels and cells has reduced the amount of silicon to just 8-grams and has plans to further reduce the figure up to 5-grams.
Solar cell manufactures have incorporated several others to minimize silicon use. The industry has switched to a wire slicer developed by radial industry. These tough wires can finely cut the ingot into thin wafers of silicon.
Dick Swanson, founder of SunPower also said that the company aims at production of more efficient solar cells than currently produced by the company, which are 22 percent efficient. He added that SunPower also has a goal of reducing the cost of solar power by 50 percent by 2012. By that time, solar modules (before installation costs) should cost $1.82 a watt.
Via: Ecoustics
