Reducing carbon emissions is critical to limiting global warming. To achieve this in electricity production, the transition must be made from fossil fuels to renewable sources, such as solar energy.

The global solar market has grown steadily for the past decade, with a dramatic 50 per cent increase in grid-connected solar in 2016. Lower costs and higher efficiency have been the main drivers, and these will have to be sustained.

Manufactured using green electricity

The building blocks of solar panels are solar cells. And the building blocks of solar cells are silicon wafers.

NorSun manufactures superclean monocrystalline silicon wafers for use in high-efficiency solar cells. The company uses premium polysilicon in combination with semiconductor-based crystal growing technology, meaning that NorSun wafers have low levels of co-doping, carbon, metals and crystalline defects.

NorSun’s state-of-the-art production facility in Årdal, Norway, is run on green electricity from hydropower. The facility currently has an ingot and wafer slicing capacity of approximately 400 MW.

Concrete benefits

NorSun wafers have a high minority carrier lifetime, and thus make highly efficient solar cells. They also have a very small carbon footprint – which is particularly important in certain end-markets such as France.

NorSun keeps costs down through innovation and collaboration with other industry actors, suppliers and customers on research and development.

Market potential

Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects that solar energy will account for 29 per cent of the world’s electricity capacity in 2040, up from 4 per cent in 2015.

NorSun is already an established supplier to Tier-1 solar panel manufacturers. Its customers include SunPower and Panasonic, whose panels are the most efficient on the market. Asia is NorSun’s main export market.

In response to growing demand and the significance of scalability, the company is planning to expand its manufacturing facility in Norway.