Invited Paper EN+MS+VT-ThA3
The U.S. PV Manufacturing Consortium – Bringing the Supply Chain Together

Thursday, November 3, 2011, 2:40 pm, Room 102

The U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC) – a $300 million partnership between SEMATECH and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany – will bring together the entire supply chain of companies to enable the development of advanced PV-related manufacturing processes. Created as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SunShot initiative, which is designed to reduce the cost of photovoltaic solar energy systems by about 75 percent over the next decade, the PVMC will engage over 40 companies and organizations from throughout the solar community. Through PVMC, SEMATECH and CNSE will spearhead a unique research and development collaboration through which industry, academia and government will accelerate the development, commercialization and manufacturing of next-generation copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin film PV manufacturing technologies, increasing performance while driving down the cost and risk of bringing them to the marketplace. By integrating the industrial research consortium and manufacturing development facilities models, PVMC offers lab-to-fab capabilities that will support rapid commercialization of new technologies and incubation of new start-up firms. PVMC offers the Federal government an unparalleled opportunity to promote the competitiveness of the U.S. PV industry.