Current status and future prospects for the PVMaT project

The goals of the Photovoltaic Manufacturing Technology project (PVMaT) are to help the US PV industry improve photovoltaic manufacturing processes and equipment; accelerate manufacturing cost reductions for PV modules, balance-of-systems components, and integrated systems; increase commercial product performance and reliability; and enhance the investment opportunities for substantial scale-ups of US-based PV manufacturing plant capacities. PVMaT is in its ninth year of implementation, and subcontracts have been completed from four solicitations for R and D on manufacturing process problems. They are in the second year of subcontracts for a fifth PVMaT solicitation. Based on the latest (1998) data from ten PVMaT industrial participants, the average direct manufacturing cost for these producers has been reduced by 29%--from $4.08 to $2.91 per peak watt since 1992--and there has also been a more than five-fold increase in manufacturing capacity-from 13.1 to 73.3 megawatts. The authors believe that continuing R and D on manufacturing processes contributes significantly to expeditious reductions in PV manufacturing costs, and they identify areas for future R and D.