The optimism remains in a lot of Swedish cleantech companies, and solar power companies are no exception. For example, Climatewell is a Swedish cleantech company with a factory in Spain. With new investments in the fabric they are multiplying their production rate. Stockholm based Midsummer is another company using the sun as a direct source of energy, with a fully-automated production technology as their competitive advantage. The method is borrow from the cd/dvd industries. Recently, Midsummer was chosen as one of te most interesting technology companies in Sweden at a venture capital event. They are looking for additional financing to be able to scale up the production to commercial levels next year.
The most spectacular news however might be the articles about Ripasso Energi AB. Ripasso intends to use Stirling engines for solar power generation. The use of the stirling engine is an increasing trend in the solar tech sector, other proponents include Swedish Cleanergy. Ripasso pretends to use an engine earlier used in Swedish submarines. Another interesting aspect is the owner of Ripasso, former Ericsson CEO Sven-Christer Nilsson. According to a recent public funding application, their pretensions are far from modest: "to make Sweden a world leader in the area of Concentrated Solar Power".
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tisdag 31 mars 2009
fredag 10 augusti 2007
Small player tactics in the solar technology game
While Norwegian REC may be the most well-known example of Scandinavian solar energy technology, there are some very fine examples from Sweden as well.
However, for solar cell production, economy of scale is often a very important factor. Large investments are necessary for the construction of production facilities, and that creates an entry barrier for smaller players in the field. So how could smaller players tackle this? Well, economy of scale is not a phenomenon that is unique for the solar power tech sector, and lessons can be learnt from other sectors. One way for smaller companies to remain in the competition might be to find a niche market, and being unique or extraordinarily good at something very specific. For solar power, the variables commonly available to make your product stand out are efficiency and price. With cells being more efficient every year, and companies can stand out if they can offer commercial products with efficiency close to the levels reached in laboratories.
Another way to move ahead may be to apply unorthodox production methods to lower the price even in small and medium scale production. By simplifying the process, or applying techniques from other types of industrial production, cheaper cells can be produced, at the cost of lower efficiency.
Swedish company Midsummer are doing just that, hoping to get a share of the flourishing solar market.
Is this the way forward for smaller solar technology firms? Or would they, as in the case of Solibro, be better off trying to excell in quality, performance or efficiency, and associating themselves with a company of large production capacity?
However, for solar cell production, economy of scale is often a very important factor. Large investments are necessary for the construction of production facilities, and that creates an entry barrier for smaller players in the field. So how could smaller players tackle this? Well, economy of scale is not a phenomenon that is unique for the solar power tech sector, and lessons can be learnt from other sectors. One way for smaller companies to remain in the competition might be to find a niche market, and being unique or extraordinarily good at something very specific. For solar power, the variables commonly available to make your product stand out are efficiency and price. With cells being more efficient every year, and companies can stand out if they can offer commercial products with efficiency close to the levels reached in laboratories.
Another way to move ahead may be to apply unorthodox production methods to lower the price even in small and medium scale production. By simplifying the process, or applying techniques from other types of industrial production, cheaper cells can be produced, at the cost of lower efficiency.
Swedish company Midsummer are doing just that, hoping to get a share of the flourishing solar market.
Is this the way forward for smaller solar technology firms? Or would they, as in the case of Solibro, be better off trying to excell in quality, performance or efficiency, and associating themselves with a company of large production capacity?
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