Solar innovation made in Germany
Oxford PV has developed a novel and more efficient solar cell. Now the company is setting up a new production facility in eastern Germany. It might be the first of many gigafactories. Where will they be built? Can Germany revive its once-mighty solar industry?
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00 Energy from the sun. German subsidies helped bring the technology online.
00:06 Then solar manufacturing moved to China. Now new technical innovations could help it return.
00:12 Represented here is the world's largest, most efficient solar cell in existence.
00:19 Time for a trial run on just one machine today for the cameras.
00:29 These next generation solar cells are slated to go into series production.
00:34 They're being hailed as a technological revolution, one that will increase energy output by 20%.
00:41 Our concept was to make a different solar cell material that would be less expensive to produce,
00:49 but also be better adapted to the sun's spectrum, the colours of the sun's spectrum.
00:55 And then we decided to combine it with the existing technology, silicon,
01:00 by layering a second solar cell in a very thin layer on top.
01:06 This pilot plant could be expanded to deliver up to 10 million solar cells a year.
01:13 And demand is high.
01:15 Everyone's talking about green hydrogen, but the hydrogen has to be produced somehow.
01:23 That's quite energy intensive, so the solar industry would be a good partner for that.
01:28 The history of solar energy in Germany has been one of ups and downs.
01:33 It all began with generous state subsidies.
01:36 At the very start, 20 years ago, Germany got the ball rolling by promoting renewable energy
01:44 and helping to massively reduce costs.
01:47 Indirectly, at least, that led to a solar boom, but it took a while.
01:53 But Germany soon lost its manufacturing edge.
01:57 Once the technology was established, German factories could no longer compete.
02:02 A number of mistakes were made.
02:07 First of all, the groundwork that had been laid early on, beginning around the year 2000,
02:12 was allowed to just shrivel and die.
02:15 The entire market collapsed.
02:17 And Germany just sat back and watched as many companies moved away, many of them to China.
02:24 The largest photovoltaic manufacturers are now in Asia.
02:31 Europe wants to regain some of its energy independence.
02:35 But how likely is that?
02:37 It's too late for us to catch up with China's production capacity.
02:44 But there are things we can do, for example by manufacturing very innovative systems
02:50 that are also very efficient.
02:52 After a promising start and then a dry spell,
02:58 Germany is once again investing in new solar technology.
03:02 The upswing was also on view at a symposium in Berlin,
03:09 which brought together local officials and energy companies.
03:13 Oxford PV's chief financial officer was also there.
03:17 The Brandenburg pilot project received nearly 11 million euros in public financing.
03:22 Nearly 100 million euros were invested in the pilot plant in all.
03:26 And the company has even bigger plans in store.
03:29 We're planning about 5 gigawatts of solar cell production
03:34 and also module manufacturing to go along with that,
03:37 where we're still evaluating various locations.
03:42 Subsidies and other incentives also play a role in those evaluations.
03:47 Many countries hope that cutting-edge technologies can tip the scale in their favour.
03:52 So where will the new Oxford Gigafactory be built?
03:55 In Europe or the US?
03:58 The US has already given some concrete numbers in the Inflation Reduction Act,
04:04 where there's mention of one trillion dollars, an amount that's hard to imagine.
04:11 Can and should the EU try to compete with that?
04:14 Discussions and negotiations are underway behind closed doors.
04:19 And the stakes are high.
04:21 For now at least, energy from the sun is the cheapest and most important form of renewable energy.
04:28 (upbeat music)