In a recent conversation with BSE Chairman Ray Moyer and Board member Joe Babin, I learned that Blue Square Energy has missed hitting critical milestones in the commercialization of Bright Point and confirmed rumored layoffs had occurred at the company.
“Leadership issues” have contributed to a morale problem at BSE resulting in the resignations of core technical team members. CEO Jeff Barnett is studying for a Wharton MBA at the University of Pennsylvania rather than committing one-hundred (100) percent to running start-up BSE. BSE shut down the silicon wafer recycling business last November 2007 citing reduced wafer availability from key supplier Intel Corporation because of Quality Assurance procedure and process changes. Government contracts and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Very High Efficiency Solar Cell (VHESC) program are the revenue streams for BSE now.
BSE failed to raise $30 million in VC funding due to concerns surrounding Allen Barnett and the failure at AstroPower along with serious questions related to Jeff Barnett’s ability to manage.
Members of the Board also have come to realize that Allen Barnett is no longer a technical asset to the company. Board members also confirmed that Jeff Barnett has failed to meet almost all timing objectives for Bright Point commercialization.
Contrary to these developments, the BSE Board of Directors still strongly believes in the promise of Bright Point technology and has been careful to maintain relationships with departed members of the company’s core technical team. However, a prerequisite for their return to BSE are changes in the company’s management prompting the Board to take the formal step of asking Jeff Barnett and Dr. Allen Barnett to tender their resignations from Blue Square Energy.
Company founder Rusty Schmit will remain a member of the Board of Directors in an active role focused on strategic initiatives and will be working with Peter to ensure a smooth transition.
This development also lends credence to anonymous rumors the retooling and layoffs are masking process issues.
Greentech Media Greentech Media: Conversations has so far rolled out two of a six part discussion series with Dr. Richard Swanson, co-founder, President, and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of SunPower Corporation. Since the series is sponsored by SunPower and mirrored over at the SunPower website as the Richard Swanson Podcast Series, this series has the appearance of an infomercial. Then again, what photovoltaic company would want to sponsor a series about a competitor? Nonetheless, I am sure these podcasts with Dr. Swanson are worth a listen.
REC Solar Grade Silicon LLC This REC Silicon Groundbreaking video by Grant County EDC showed up on YouTube before Christmas even though the ceremony to mark the construction of the new Solar Grade Silicon manufacturing facility in Moses Lake, Washington USA, was held way back on August 16, 2006.
A few updated photos of the construction are posted on the Grant County Economic Development Council website at REC Silicon Project. Slated to ramp in the second half of 2008, the new plant is based on a proprietary FBR (Fluidized Bed Reactor) process and will add 6500 MT (Metric Tons) of granular Solar Grade Silicon production capacity. REC Solar Grade Silicon LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (OSL:REC).
Solarvalue AG The stockings of Solarvalue AG (XETRA:SV7) shareholders were empty this Christmas. No (char)coal, wood chips, quartz, or Solar Grade Silicon (SGS) sample material from a US lab. But did the Solarvalue ÜberBull get high sulfur coal from Santa Claus?
Two series begun in 2007 remain unfinished. I have noticed significant interest in Timminco Limited: O Canada! Solar Grade Silicon, Eh? – Part 1. This is a top priority at the start of 2008, and I have two additional parts planned. There was also supposed to be a Part 3 after Sunways goes its own Silicon ways – Part 2 to cover the Automotive solar segment of Sunways. I have the material but just have not gotten to the write up.
Once again I wish everyone a Happy New Year 2008 and may it be happy and prosperous for us all.
Blue Square Energy also presents at Alternative Energy Innovations 2007
[Redwood City, California, USA]
Further details of Bright Point solar cell business plans and the next $30 Million funding round emerge
Blue Square Energy (BSE) President and CEO Jeff Barnett delivered a capable and informed presentation regarding BSE’s plans and solicitation of venture capital for continued expansion on Wednesday, October 23, 2007, at the Dow Jones VentureWireAlternative Energy Innovations 2007 conference in Redwood City, California.
With Bright Point silicon solar cell technology, BSE expects to reach $1.22 per Watt module cost by 2010. BSE claims to have the lowest cost of capital per Watt based on a proprietary production equipment toolset. In fact, Mr. Barnett said Bright Point achieves crystalline silicon efficiency at comparable cost to thin film solar technologies.
Bright Point achieves this lofty goal by depositing a 10um (micrometer) active layer of Solar Grade Silicon on a 4N (four nines) 99.99% pure “boron rich” 200um Bright Point Upgraded Metallurgical Silicon (UMG) substrate. Longer term, Mr. Barnett said the UMG silicon would cost $10 per kilogram (kg) although costing perhaps as much as $25 per kg in 2008. BSE has already received commercial size samples of the boron rich UMG material for qualification. The Solar Grade Silicon layer is supposed to cost a mere $0.01 per Watt per BSE estimates.
BSE expects to deliver Bright Point solar cells with 13-14% efficiency in the second quarter of 2008. Thus far, BSE has obtained 12.3% laboratory efficiency and commercial sized Bright Point solar cells have been confirmed by NREL at 10.9% conversion efficiency. BSE further claims Bright Point can achieve a 23% commercial efficiency potential by leveraging the boron impurities in the UMG substrate. The technique or principle involved here was not discussed. Overview of SAI PV Incubator Awards details the $2,990,000 proceeds used to fund research and development towards the 23% Bright Point silicon solar cell efficiency objective .
BSE plans to build 39MWp (MegaWatt-peak) of Bright Point solar cell capacity in 2008 and another 113MWp in 2009 for a total of 152MWp capacity in 2009 and targets 200MWp Bright Point capacity by 2010. BSE has already lined up exclusive silicon suppliers for their virtual vertical integration strategy. BSE will focus on Bright Point solar cell production using proprietary processes and production equipment while outsourced manufacturers will produce solar modules. In addition, BSE expects to sell 25 to 50% of their production to Bright Point solar cell customers. BSE has no ambitions beyond manufacturing and will not enter the downstream installation business.
In November 2007, BSE will receive prototype production equipment for a 5.5MWp Bright Point solar cell line to prove their scalable solar manufacturing system.
This investment round is open to new investors and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.
All things considered, Blue Square Energy earns high marks for executing to the plans they discussed with me earlier this year. However, the production capacity build to the full 200MWp appears to be delayed by over a year. Perhaps this is related to the delivery schedules for their proprietary Bright Point production equipment?
Once again, conferences including Solar Power 2007 and 22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) have dominated Blog coverage since September. I have accumulated anecdotes and news about Blog staples and newer companies and topics over this time period.
Advent Solar, Inc. During Solar Power 2007, I talked to an Advent Solar spokesperson at their Hyatt Regency Ballroom stand. The spokesperson claimed the retooling of Advent’s 25MWp (MegaWatt-peak) line to 156mm (millimeter) silicon wafers would be completed by about November 2007 and ready for production in early 2008. The expectation is laid off workers will be recalled to ramp production on the retooled line.
In contrast, before Solar Power 2007, my request for a reiterative quote from the Advent Solar Management Team about the retooling to dispel anonymous rumors of process issues with Advent’s Emitter Wrap-Through (EWT) solar cells was denied. My subsequent request to meet a member of the Advent Solar Executive Management Team at Solar Power 2007 was also denied. I may be a niche Blogger, but I don’t seem to have trouble getting to talk with Photovoltaic company CEOs. Could there be some shred of truth behind this rumor?
ersol Thin Film I noticed ersol Solar Energy AG (FRA:ES6) CEO Dr. Claus Beneking at the ersol Solar Power 2007 stand. Dr. Beneking was willing to answer a few questions about the recent developments at ersol Thin Film. He confirmed the basic facts I got from ersol reported in Oerlikon solar (almost) at work: ersol Thin Film delays production. ersol Thin Film plans to solidify their production toolset before further expansions to or by 100MWp in the 2009/2010 timeframe. ersol Thin Film expects to be the first company in production with micromorph tandem modules by adding Oerlikon’s KAI 1200M2 deposition system to their existing production line.
M.SETEK Co.,Ltd. M.SETEK President Ritsuo Matsumiya delivers an Opening Ceremony speech in Japanese (with English subtitles, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X0RI-eQF7U) on May 24, 2007, at their Polysilicon Plant located in Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
Sol3g, S.L. In a press release titled SOLÚCAR TRUSTS IN SOL3G from September 13, 2007, Sol3g announced Solúcar Energia, S.A. obtained a 25% stake in Sol3g by contributing 50% of the capital in a follow on financing round. The balance of the funding is a participative credit from ENISA, a government capital investment arm part of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism. The proceeds will be used to execute Sol3g’s business plan and complete the production capacity expansion to 5MWp by the end of 2007. The exact Euro sums of these investments were not disclosed.
Mr. Scanio, Oral Presentations, and the Q-Cells Band
Here is one for Italian speaking readers. Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, Italian Minister for the Environment, Land, and Sea, answers a press question about Italian Photovoltaic market development in Italiano.
Dr. Allen Barnett presented “Milestones Toward 50% Efficient Solar Cells” on Monday, September 3, 2007. I decided to video this presentation after the first few minutes.
Here is the paper citation:
1AO.6.7 A. Barnett, C.B. Honsberg, K. Goossen & F. Kiamilev University of Delaware, Newark, USA D. Kirkpatrick DARPA, Arlington, USA S.R. Kurtz, M.W. Wanlass, K. Emery & L. Kazmerski NREL, Golden, USA D. Moore University of Rochester, United Kingdom R. Schwartz Purdue University, USA D.J. Aiken Emcore, Albuquerque, USA Milestones Toward 50% Efficient Solar Cells
2DP.1.5 K. Hesse Wacker-Chemie, Burghausen, Germany An Overview on Silicon Feedstock I believe Dr. Hesse is trying to create FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) regarding refined metallurgical silicon or solar grade silicon.
The Q-Cells Party has developed a reputation as the best party at EU PVSEC. Last year at the 21st EU PVSEC in Dresden, I didn’t even hear about the Q-Cells Party until afterwards. This year, the Q-Cells Party took place at Karma in southeast Milan, Italy, on Tuesday night.
Here are my video bootlegs of the Q-Cells Band. My Canon Powershot SD800 IS digital camera only records in mono, so the Band is much better than these soundtracks. If you have viewed my videos before, the infernal audio clicks are a bug with this camera and occur every time the zoom is adjusted while recording a video.
Any idea which of the Band's three front women was my fav? I am not telling. I have a bunch more EU PVSEC videos to screen for post worthiness.
And when I see a Visual presentation like this:
3AV.1.4 A. Barnett, C.B. Honsberg & D. Prather University of Delaware, Newark, USA J. Culik, D. Ford, K. Allison & J. Barnett Blue Square Energy, North East, USA High Performance Thin Silicon Solar Cells
I cannot help but wonder if Dr. Barnett working this close with his son’s company, Blue Square Energy, and AstroPower alumni doesn’t represent one huge conflict of interest?
Intersolar 2007 and 2006 California Clean Tech Open (CCTO) companies have dominated Blog coverage over the past month. It’s time to get back to covering staple companies and topics although there are follow up Intersolar 2007 and PV Industry Forum 2007 posts plus SEMICON West coverage in the works.
Blue Square Energy (BSE): Alan Swanson Joins Blue Square Energy as Vice President of Manufacturing Operations bringing thirty years of experience from Tyco Electronics and the former AMP, Inc. To complete the management team in preparation for a potential IPO, BSE needs to name a VP of Engineering or CTO or both.
CMC Magnetics Corp: Following the Moser Baer model, CMC Magnetics, the largest Taiwanese maker of optical media, is setting up a subsidiary, Sun Well Technology, to produce thin film solar modules in Taiwan.Information from industry sources (rumors) allege the 100MWp facility will be equipped by Oerlikon Solar.
HyCore: Norsk Hydro ASA (NYSE:NHY) and the Umicore Group (EBR:UMI) have formed the HyCore joint venture to produce solar grade silicon from metallurgical silicon using a process first researched by Umicore. €26 million will be invested to construct a 20 metric ton pilot plant at Herøya, in Porsgrunn, Norway, by 2008. If proven successful, a larger facility will be constructed at the same site to produce industrial scale volumes by 2010.
Umicore has about 90% market share in Germanium (Ge) substrate wafers required for compound semiconductors like III-V Triple Junction solar cells used in High Concentration Photovoltaic systems.
A fresh new look for the NJCEP website is due by August 1, 2007.
Oerlikon Solar: I heard Oerlikon Solar was briefing press (though not this blogger!) about a significant announcement.I have no idea what it is, but speculations include ersol or Schott in official production, more new orders like CMC Magnetics, or could Micromorph tools be shipping?
Solar Newsletter No. 2, July 17, 2007, was distributed at SEMICON West but is not yet on the Oerlikon Solar website at post time.
PV Cycle: Per the EPIA (European Photovoltaic Industry Association) Newsletter, SOLARIS, the PV CYCLE association created on 5th July 2007 by founding members: Avancis, BSW, Conergy, EPIA, Isofotón, Schott Solar, SolarWorld, and Sulfurcell.An executive board was appointed to prepare for the first General Assembly meeting of the PV Cycle association scheduled for September 18, 2007, in Brussels, Belgium.Interested companies are welcome to apply for membership in the PV CYCLE association and membership information should be forthcoming to EPIA members.
SunPower: And SunPower CEO Tom Werner Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 Award Recipient in Northern California would not be my first choice since I believe the PowerLight acquisition is an expensive distraction from increasing SunPower’s production of the highest efficiency, back contact, monocrystalline solar cells and modules.Why was Ernst & Young LLP not disclosed as being the independent auditor of PowerLight Corporation’s financials from 2005 and 2006?Although the award claims to use a panel of independent judges, how were the initial nominations made?
Given the accelerated velocity of photovoltaic and solar activity, I don’t envy publications trying to cover every aspect of the PV Industry.I’ll stick with this Blog’s established format of looking for areas less covered or where I can add insight and commentary.
I decided to revive the Light Flashes from last September and prefix Solar to satisfy the search engines.Solar Light Flashes will provide an ad hoc channel for the various factoids and observation pairs I stumble upon during my research for posts.Most of these factoids do not justify a complete post; combined I expect them to be informative.
This post is arranged in alphabetical order, and the company name or topic links back to my last significant related post.
GreenVolts: GreenVolts launched a new home landing page in conjunction with the Business 2.0 Magazine article, Big Solar's day in the sun by Todd Woody.This article generated a maelstrom of search hits on the Blog looking for background on GreenVolts.
Nanosolar: In Nanosolar loses chief scientist, Michael Kanellos blogs that Chris Eberspacher has left the firm.Does this mean there are problems with Nanosolar’s technology, disagreements with Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen, or a transition from research and development to mass production and operations?Per Mr. Roscheisen:
Chris decided to leave, basically realizing that we now have a ton of really talented and passionate engineers on our team who know their respective areas so well that there's really not much for Chris to contribute. We remain on friendly terms with Chris and appreciate his pioneering a lot of the early science in CIGS.
Solarvalue: After five trilingual posts in NEWS FROM RUSE - THE BLOG (Deutsch, Slovensko), John Mott hasn’t updated the Blog since April 30, 2007.I guess John is too busy preparing TDR Ruse for Solar Grade Silicon production, but I am still jealous of his trilingual writing skills.
My accreditations have been approved and my travel arrangements are set for the Solar Promotion PV Industry Forum 2007 and Intersolar 2007.Thin films, Concentrating PhotoVoltaics (CPV), and Rural Electrification are the focus of the 3rd PV Industry Forum program this year in Freiburg im Breisgau.
Blue Square Energy sets the impurity enriched solar cell record straight
Discusses Silicon Wafer Recycling business and Bright Point solar cell technology and plans
In late January 2007, I was contacted by two first round, angel investors in Blue Square Energy (BSE), Ray Moyer, CEO of EPX (Electronic Payment Exchange), and Joseph Babin, COO of Blue Square Energy and founder of Opis Advisors. As private equity investors, Ray and Joe prefer to stay close to their investments working with the management team and adding value.And their efforts have driven change in Blue Square Energy’s approach to the press and this blogger in particular.
Over a period of two years, Blue Square Energy was financed with $5 million by first round investors to kick start a silicon wafer recycling business.Built under time and under budget, silicon wafer recycling generated a profit within 12-14 months of the commencement of operations.
Silicon wafers used for recycling into solar cells originate from the semiconductor industry.These wafers started their lives as electronic grade monocrystalline silicon ingots pulled via the Czochralski processand sawed into wafers.Per Blue Square Energy, about 10-20% of all wafer starts in the semiconductor industry are utilized for quality control of the manufacturing process creating an after market for scrap wafers.Scrap wafers can either be sold to steel and aluminum industries as metallurgical silicon or to the photovoltaic (PV) industry at a premium.Driven by polysilicon shortages for silicon solar cells, scrap wafer prices have increased from about $1.40 each (200mm wafers?) in 2004 to about $11-13 per 300mm wafer in 2007 (source: BSE).
Scrap semiconductor wafers are converted into wafers suitable for solar cell processing using a cleaning or recycling process to remove contaminates or dopants applied during semiconductor wafer processing.“Cleaned” wafers can be processed into solar cells using standard PV industry cell processing production equipment.BSE claims their recycled solar cells average about 14% electrical conversion efficiency comparable to mainstream multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells.
Per Blue Square Energy via Mr. Moyer, here are the strengths and weaknesses of the silicon wafer recycling business for solar cells:
Advantages to using scrap semiconductor wafers:
Cheaper than virgin wafers
Recycling cost is minor
High barriers to entry without established vendor relationships
Disadvantages to using scrap semiconductor wafers:
Wafer supply (quantity & quality) is inconsistent and varies between vendors
Recycling process requires significant engineering know-how
World supply (market potential) is limited by semiconductor industry’s scrap supply
Increasing foreign competition
Today, BSE manufactures up to 15,000 300mm (12 inch) and 6,000 200mm (8 inch) solar cells from recycled circular wafers per month using a single shift for annual production capacity of 2 MW (Megawatts).Blue Square Energy asserts that making solar cells from smaller recycled wafers does not make economic sense.
As I speculated in my first post about Blue Square Energy, the company is reinvesting the profits generated from the recycling business to finance a new proprietary solar technology called Bright Point.
Bright Point solar cells utilize an impurity enriched metallurgical grade silicon (called UMG by BSE) substrate instead of higher quality solar grade silicon. Per Blue Square Energy, the “impurity enriched” moniker of UMG defines silicon between metallurgical grade silicon and solar grade silicon in purity.
Through a process developed by BSE, a second layer of silicon is deposited on the low cost UMG substrate.The Bright Point solar cell is designed so the active deposited silicon layer and the UMG substrate interact to achieve higher solar cell conversion efficiencies.I believe this UMC substrate forms the base of a high performance, low cost silicon solar cell approach in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Very High Efficiency Solar Cell (VHESC) program.
At present, first generation Bright Point solar cells achieve about 10% (ten percent) conversion efficiency, and BSE believes this can be improved to as high as 14%.Blue Square Energy’s product roadmap will build upon Bright Point technology.Second generation Bright Point solar cells are targeting 20-24% conversion efficiency at an aggressive cost of $1 per Watt.BSE plans a third generation Bright Point solar cell with a whopping 25-32% conversion efficiency target.
Blue Square Energy is now developing manufacturing processes and equipment for the mass production of first generation Bright Point solar cells this year.
BSE COO Joe Babin said, "Blue Square Energy will be the first to market with a solar cell produced on a UMG substrate."
By the fourth quarter of 2008, Blue Square Energy expects to ramp Bright Point solar cell production to a 200 MWp (Megawatts peak) annual run rate. After the angel round and two pseudo series B rounds with smart money from institutional investors, Blue Square Energy has sufficient capital to commercialize Bright Point technology.
I look forward to tracking Blue Square Energy’s progress in 2007 to see if BSE can achieve their conversion efficiency targets for Bright Point in mass production.
CEO Jeff Barnett and father/consultant Dr. Allen Barnett asked to tender resignations. 
