The photovoltaics industry has expanded by 30-50% every year over the last decade, and the engine for this unprecedented growth has been the German feed-in tariff law and similar subsidy models in several other countries.

Figure 1: Growth of the PV industry (source: EPIA)

This growth has led to the unusual situation that the PV market developed into a sellers market, with the effect that while the normal industrial learning curve was effective (as in all industries (Fig.2)), it has not led to any significant corresponding reduction in prices. As a consequence, the margins for most companies were in the 2 digit percentage range.

Figure 2: The Industrial learning curve for the PV industry (source: Willeke and Bergholz, SEMI Standards Spring Meetings 2008, Brussels, Belgium)

Even though this provided a short-term comfort level, it has created several “unhealthy” effects:

• Expansion of capacities was driven without accompanying improvements in process stability, quality and process efficiencies.
• Arguably the most important root cause of this “quality and efficiency gap” was the lack of qualified and experienced personnel, both at the shop floor level in engineering and at the managerial level. New hires may have had a scientific background in PV technology, but little industrial experience, in many cases they may have had neither technological nor industrial experience.
• This created a ripple effect throughout the supply chain: the lack of qualified and trained personnel became a bottleneck and amplified the silicon feedstock shortage,. This extended equipment supplier response times, which in due course has led to unacceptably long lead times, but also to long delays in installation of new equipment, and severe problems in terms of the availability of service and spare parts.

Even though it was obvious that sellers’ market conditions were not sustainable in the long term, it still took the industry by surprise that within months the sellers’ market changed to a buyers market, triggered in large part by the financial crisis that prevented many potential customers from investing in solar energy. The reason? The module market was faced with a significant oversupply situation, leading to a dramatic decline in the module prices (Fig. 3) under conditions of a buyers’ market.

Figure 3: Price development for complete roof-top PV energy systems in Germany (source: German Solar Industry Association and Wirtschaftswoche,)

As a consequence, many companies which had been profitable before the market flip are now fighting for survival. It seems clear that only those companies will survive which can master the challenge to rapidly close the quality and the efficiency gaps, both for existing facilities and for forecasted production capacities.

To successfully tackle this challenge, the industry needs to boost the qualification of personnel with regard to implementing:

• Process control
• Quality Improvement and defect reduction, in particular wafer breakage
• Improvements of productivity and equipment, capital and material efficiencies
• All these without significant invest

With utilization rates well below 100% in many facilities and capacity expansion on hold, the timing for personnel training could not be better. The PV industry has the opportunity now to invest in personnel training.

To respond to this need, Jacobs University is offering a training program focused on two key areas:

• Training of existing personnel in methods how to improve quality and productivity within existing or ramp-up facilities ( 2 day course)
• Training of new personnel in all relevant aspects of the PV supply chain for crystalline Silicon based PV

The objectives of the course are to enable engineers to improve their skills in process optimization in the areas of process control, efficiency and yield enhancement and in improving equipment utilization, productivity and material efficiency, with negligible investment in new equipment.

To create a constructive working atmosphere, the courses will not be held in a hotel or convention center, but on the Jacobs University campus. (Fig. 5). All lecture rooms are equipped with state-of-the art presentation tools and power outlets for all participants.

Fig. 4: Jacobs University Campus and location in the center of Europe, easily accessible by plane, train or car.

To assist the participants in the rapid application of their newly acquired knowledge, the course will consist to a large part of case studies and problem solving exercises, as illustrated in the course overview (Fig. 5)

Fig. 5: Course Overview

The 2-day course is organized in 4 sessions, each of which consist of an interactive lecture part and a case study and problem solving part. The four topics have been chosen to maximize the short-term impact on the practical work in engineering:

• Session 1: Engineering for high efficiency and a narrow efficiency distribution
• Session 2: Interaction between Si materials and the process
• Session 3: Decrease of Wafer Breakage
• Session 4: Increase of Productivity

The annual growth rate of photovoltaics as a primary energy source is predicted to remain around 20% – 30% over the next few decades. PV modules based on crystalline silicon will continue to have the largest market share and are the only technology with a proven track record over 25 years. Improvements in efficiency and cost reduction in large-scale production are key to competitiveness.

The participants will be able to the apply the latest developments in Silicon Materials, Technology, Productivity Management, Quality Management, Supply Chain Management and Standardization. In this course, all steps of the supply chain, including module manufacturing and testing, will be covered to address the significant interactions between materials, equipment, processes and modules manufacturing (compare figure 6).

Figure 6: Supply chain for crystalline Si based Photovoltaics (source: SEMI PV Group)

Engineers and scientists who have recently started an assignment in silicon materials production, equipment manufacturing, PV cell and/or module production, or in PV systems engineering companies.

The curriculum:

• Session 1: Economic Background
• Session 2: Solar Cells and Modules
• Session 3: Materials and Equipment
• Session 4: PV cell manufacturing
• Session 5: Module manufacturing
• Session 6: Quality, Quantity & Standards

The first 2 day Course for experienced engineers is planned for late January 2010. The number of participants will be limited to 20, the minimum number of participants is 10. Depending on the demand, the course will be repeated at monthly intervals.

The first 5 day course for newcomers is planned for April 2010, and will also be regularly offered.

Every participant will receive a Certificate of Participation. It is also possible to take an optional exam, in which case the course will be eligible for a module for a more comprehensive engineering training program planned to be implemented over the next 2 years.

Our lecturers are researchers from universities and practitioners from the PV Industry, providing technical depth and “real life” contents.

The course director, Werner Bergholz, is Professor of Electrical Engineering at Jacobs University, and has over 20 years of industry experience in technology, Quality Management (QM) and supply chain management in the microelectronics and PV industry. He is the co-chair of the European Regional Standards Committee (ERSC) and has received the Karel Urbanek Memorial Award for International Leadership in the Standards Program.

For more information about Jacobs University and the course details, please contact:
w.bergholz@jacobs-university.de, Tel: +49 421 200 3111.