50 Years of Solar Energy at SCHOTT Solar

Munich/Alzenau, 12 June 2008 – This year SCHOTT Solar celebrates the 50-year anniversary of its photovoltaic activities. The various aspects of technology and development have been bundled and consistently brought to market during the past 50 years. Today, SCHOTT Solar is the only company worldwide that unites competence in photovoltaics and know-how in receiver technology for solar power plants with parabolic trough technololgy (Concentrated Solar Power) under one roof, thus seamlessly following in the footsteps of its predecessor companies and their research achievements.

Few solar companies can look back to such a long tradition and extensive technological experience as SCHOTT Solar. “In the history of our company, a pioneering spirit and a drive to research excellence have combined with the firm belief in solar electricity as one of the most important sources of energy in the future,” says Dr. Martin Heming, Managing Director and CEO of SCHOTT Solar, on the occasion of the anniversary. “Building on this tradition, we intend to continue developing solar technology through technological innovations while continuing to strengthen our market position.”

Trendsetter with tradition

As early as 1958 AEG Telefunken began developing solar cells for the aerospace industry, especially to supply energy for satellites. Only a few years later the company, which later was integrated into the Deutsche Aerospace AG (DASA), began with the production of silicon-based solar cells for terrestrial applications. In 1979 the RWE subsidiary Nukem started developing solar cells and modules made from crystalline silicon for the first time. At the same time Messerschmidt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) combined forces with Total Energy to develop the foundation of thin film technology based on amorphous silicon as part of the joint venture Phototronics in Munich (Germany). In 1994 the photovoltaic activities of DASA, Nukem and Phototronics led to the foundation of the Angewandte Solarenergie GmbH (ASE), a subsidiary of RWE located in Alzenau (Germany). 2002 RWE and SCHOTT founded the joint venture RWE SCHOTT Solar. The SCHOTT Solar GmbH emerged in the year 2005 after the takeover of all shares of the RWE SCHOTT Solar GmbH through the SCHOTT AG. As its predecessors, SCHOTT Solar is regarded as a cutting-edge company in the solar industry – with all companies having a major influence on the development of the industry.

Components for photovoltaic applications and solar power plants with parabolic trough technology

Today SCHOTT Solar produces vital components for photovoltaic applications with crystalline silicon wafers, cells and modules. Manufacture of the silicon wafers is carried out mainly through the joint venture WACKER SCHOTT Solar. One of the standout innovations, among others, is EFG, in which the wafers are drawn directly as silicon film. This process uses significantly less material during the production of silicon wafers than traditional methods. In this efficient process, developed in the beginning of the 1970s by Mobil Tyco Solar Energy in the USA, the silicon is extruded in the form of a hollow octagon directly out of the silicon furnace. ASE took over the company in 1994 and continued to develop the process. The EFG process was first implemented on an industrial scale in Germany in 2002, after construction of the integrated and highly automated SmartSolarFab in Alzenau. Since then, SCHOTT Solar has continued to optimise the process and has been able to regularly lower consumption of resources.

Beyond that, SCHOTT Solar considers itself a market- and technology leader in receiver technology, which many experts consider as particularly promising in the future. Receivers are a key component of solar power plants with parabolic trough technology, where the plants generate power from concentrated solar radiation and are able to supply energy for entire cities. Beyond that the solar power plants can be combined with fossil fuel or biomass sources, thus ensuring future energy supplies with a high proportion of solar power.