Silicon PCs end up on the roof IBM and Intel are betting on the sun The Italian small businesses: "Do not worry, we also have arrived and BTicino Beghelli"
VALERIO Gualerzi
solariROMA Panels - The giants of 'information on the hunt for a place in the sun. The photovoltaic business hours tempts even the semiconductor giants like Intel and IBM who recently announced their entry into the field. The objective is the same: to transform the core competencies in silicon processing to produce a microchip in capital to invest in the production of photovoltaic cells. A change strategies are adopted. Intel has decided to put on the table fifty millions of dollars to launch a "startup", the Spectrawatt, setting a goal, the first production in new factory in Oregon, from 2009, crystalline silicon solar cell with a capacity of 60 megawatts. You place that on a proven technology that currently provides the best average yields and production costs. More complex and daring choice instead of IBM. "Big Blue", as they call Americans, launched a joint venture with Tokyo Ohka Kogyo. Choosing a partner with the ambition of being able to put into production photovoltaic cells that replace expensive silicon area and more and more with a special thin-film developed in its laboratories and made of copper, indium, gallium and selenide. The advantage would be represented by the prices of raw materials, much more content and greater flexibility in building applications, while the limit is the efficiency in converting sunlight into electricity, still far lower than those guaranteed by the crystalline silicon.
The future will tell who has chosen the right path, but the game will not be a simple duel. U.S. analysts specializing in investment funds in GreenTech, are convinced that other major industry players to follow the example of short Intel and IBM. The eyes are focused primarily on Samsung, LG and Advanced Micro Devices. Heavyweight that could literally make shade for small and medium enterprises active some time in the sun and that only in recent years have finally begun to turn a profit. A second problem that Brucciani Federico, project manager of the GIFI, the association that brings together the Italian side of the PV at the time in our country does not exist. "The entry of two similar players on the market is an advantage for the entire supply chain - he explains - now the real bottleneck is the shortage of raw material, but foraging that these two companies are able to guarantee I will have a positive also in terms of installed capacity and credibility of the industry. " After all in our little Italy also suffered a "trauma" similar, but with positive effects. "We - highlights Brucciani yet - the entry of leading brands such as Beghelli BTicino and served to make us grow in professionalism, giving everyone greater visibility. "
(The Republic June 28, 2008)
0 comments:
Post a Comment