Remote connectivity reduces costs for burgeoning solar industry
09/01/2008
The solar industry is blazing a new trail around the globe in a very similar way to the global expansion that the semiconductor industry experienced in the 1990s. New turnkey, solar-module fabrication facilities are cranking out solar-energy modules from low-cost production centers in remote locations. Most of these factories are being built in sparsely developed geographical regions to take advantage of government incentives, inexpensive land, and low-cost labor. As a result, limited local expertise and lack of infrastructure are two of the major challenges facing companies building and maintaining these factories. The solar-module industry must explore innovative ways to construct, operate, and maintain these facilities because it will not be feasible to establish a comprehensive infrastructure at each site.
Getting solar power to achieve price parity with the electrical power grid by 2010 is the key goal driving the industry toward lower production costs. Maximizing the efficiency and yield of solar-module production facilities is an important way for the industry to reduce costs and achieve profitability. Therefore, achieving maximum operational efficiency from the equipment in these plants is critical, and real-time collaborations provided by secure network connectivity can help plant operators accomplish this goal.
The solar market’s intense focus on reducing the cost/watt is leading the industry to cut overhead expenses wherever possible. Previously, the semiconductor industry has demonstrated how to leverage small, global teams of manufacturing, process, and technology experts across geographically dispersed facilities without requiring them to spend time and money traveling to distant facilities. Fortunately, the solar-module industry is a perfect environment for remote control. The typical solar manufacturing line is more physically integrated than a semiconductor process line. Additionally, a unified control platform is usually available, which affords the opportunity for a much simpler remote connectivity integration strategy.
There is less resistance to implementing the aforementioned strategies because the solar-module industry does not have the intense competition for differentiation that exists among major semiconductor OEMs. The capability for remote control can be specified and integrated as a utility requirement in solar-module fabs. The implementation becomes an operational exercise rather than an emotional and political sell when it is attempted in an existing factory in a mature market. Intelligent, secure connectivity, and live network collaborations can help solar-module manufacturers better manage the equipment in their production facilities. By allowing advanced process control of the module-making equipment in the factory, they will have access to diagnostic information in real-time without having to send technicians into production environments. This level of connectivity will allow solar fab operators to prevent equipment breakdowns that result in downtime and lost productivity. It also can be used to improve equipment performance and reduce the size of maintenance crews at these plants.
This model has been proven in the semiconductor industry, and it can offer similar benefits to operators of new solar fabs. The secure, remote connection platform is also extensible to include the opportunity to remotely control manufacturing load and data integration into corporate MES and/or ERP platforms. It is clear that the investment in solar cell design and efficiency is significant today and will continue to grow. Just as the IC device market has been driven by Moore’s Law, we expect to see a similar paradigm relative to the energy generation efficiency of a solar module. In the meantime, the marketplace must be vigilant in its effort to reduce the total cost of the entire fulfillment process knowing that appropriate expertise will not be affordable at each site.
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Joe Cestari is a technical advisory board member for ILS Technology, 5300 Broken Sound Blvd., Suite 150, Boca Raton, FL 33487; ph 561/982-9898; e-mail [email protected].