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This is from the financial statement dated June 30th.
As of June 30, 2018 the Company has had recurring losses
from operations and a cumulative deficit of $24,328,853. The Company’s continuation as a going concern is dependent
upon its ability to attain profitable operations and generate funds there from and/or raise equity capital or borrowings
sufficient to meet current and future obligations. These conditions indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that
may cast significant doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management intends to finance
operating costs over the next twelve months with existing cash resources and the private placement of common shares.
They are releasing there property until 2020.
I just read the Annual & Transition 20-f report. It looks like they will be having more private placements for at least the next 12 months, which I am not too happy about. You would think that after close to 10 years they would have some sort of revenue by now. The one thing that is interesting is they have 13 employees working in the US. What could they possibly be doing?
Thanks
What is a R Tradmark?
Here is some great PR for Natcore.
https://www.midasletter.com/2018/03/natcore-technology-catapults-higher-on-groundbreaking-solar-breakthrough/
Dear Pat,
This morning we announced significant advancements made by our R&D team in Rochester.
The move from laser processing to the carrier selective contact process does much to help eliminate many of the production variables in mass producing solar cells.
The reduction of silver speaks for itself. It is still a critical backbone of our technology with respect to cost reduction.
An important issue and something that might be initially overlooked in the news release below is the accelerated prototype development program. We received recommendations from several individuals experienced and familiar with the solar industry. The consensus from this group was that we could present a product to manufacturers that would pique their interest without having a complete pilot line. An operating solar cell with our technology, perhaps one-quarter the size of an actual cell, would be more than sufficient. It is felt this prototype could be achieved in much less time than we had anticipated for the pilot line alternative.
Please look at the news release carefully since it contains much important information. Let us know if you have any questions and would like to discuss these issues further.
Best,
Chuck
I'm with you coin.
That is awesome news. I think we are on our way.
12/12/2017
Thanks for the e-mail. I appreciate your question and understand your concerns.
As you mentioned we have been conducting small raises over the last couple of months. Those raises were mostly designed to accommodate a Canadian institution that has shown a great interest in Natcore. In fact several of those raises were done at a share price that was above where the stock was trading. We feel that these small raises allow us to raise small amounts of capital with a minimal impact on the stock price and dilution.
As far as the stock price is concerned, I follow the movement in our stock every day and follow all of the trades. Although it is disappointing to see the price drifting lower we are not too concerned by the recent stock activity and are more focused on the long term picture. As a matter of fact I have had several shareholders tell me they see this as an opportunity to purchase shares at an artificially low price.
Here is a quick update that I can share with you. We are currently working with a large European manufacturing company and several large Chinese manufacturing companies interested in helping us take our technology to commercialization. Representatives responsible for technology from these companies have visited the laboratory in Rochester and are excited about involvement with Natcore. The downside is they are large companies with cumbersome approval processes.
Our Best of Breed projects are still progressing nicely. Both the Vietnamese and Australia projects are at a point in their development where we are quantifying and solidifying offtake partners for the electricity. We have received letters from the Electric Company of Vietnam confirming their interest and capability to purchase specific amounts of power. Australia is a bit different as we are looking for a commercial partner for the offtake that will be augmented by the government’s participation. The financing has been established for both projects; I think we will see agreements being signed within six months. The issues are now in building permits and environmental studies.
We had a signed PPA for our Ghana Solar Farm, but there was a change in government in Ghana and a new PPA had to be negotiated. As I mentioned before, our partner tells us that a new PPA is signed and, in his words, funding is "imminent." Once that happens we can move forward with that project.
I hope this addresses some of your concerns. We will continue to do our best to keep everyone updated on any information we are able to release.
Best regards,
Thomas J. Scarpa
Sr. Vice President
Natcore Technology, Inc.
189 N. Water Street, Suite 700, Rochester, NY 14604
585-286-9180, fax 585-286-9182
Email: scarpa@natcoresolar.com
www.natcoresolar.com
This was written on the PSECC website. Maybe Natcore is just too busy to give us any info.
September 2017 - We are investigating a contract with Natcore to take their new Back Contact cells into Manufacturing in Poland. Also the MoU signed 10th July 2017 between Natcore Technology, Inc. and PSECC Solar Farms Ltd, already have been successful with a LOI for $30 million into a 30MW solar farm in another Country through Natcore involvement.
We are working up Solar Farm projects in the USA - Hawaii & currently six other states showing interest & have linked into Natcore for assistance with official negotiations, development, site identification, PPA & consultancy work.
IF ELECTRIC CARS DO NOT USE GASOLINE, THEY WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN PAYING A GASOLINE TAX ON EVERY GALLON THAT IS SOLD FOR AUTOMOBILES, WHICH WAS ENACTED SOME YEARS AGO TO HELP TO MAINTAIN OUR ROADS AND BRIDGES. THEY WILL USE THE ROADS, BUT WILL NOT PAY FOR THEIR MAINTENANCE!
In case you were thinking of buying hybrid or an electric car:
Ever since the advent of electric cars, the REAL cost per mile of those things has never been discussed. All you ever heard was the mpg in terms of gasoline, with nary a mention of the cost of electricity to run it. This is the first article I’ve ever seen and tells the story pretty much as I expected it to.
Electricity has to be one of the least efficient ways to power things yet they’re being shoved down our throats. Glad somebody finally put engineering and math to paper.
At a neighborhood BBQ I was talking to a neighbor, a BC Hydro executive. I asked him how that renewable thing was doing. He laughed, then got serious. If you really intend to adopt electric vehicles, he pointed out, you had to face certain realities. For example, a home charging system for a Tesla requires 75 amp service. The average house is equipped with 100 amp service. On our small street (approximately 25 homes), the electrical infrastructure would be unable to carry more than three houses with a single Tesla, each. For even half the homes to have electric vehicles, the system would be wildly over-loaded.
This is the elephant in the room with electric vehicles. Our residential infrastructure cannot bear the load. So as our genius elected officials promote this nonsense, not only are we being urged to buy these things and replace our reliable, cheap generating systems with expensive, new windmills and solar cells, but we will also have to renovate our entire delivery system! This latter "investment" will not be revealed until we're so far down this dead end road that it will be presented with an 'OOPS!' and a shrug.
If you want to argue with a green person over cars that are eco-friendly, just read the following. Note: If you ARE a green person, read it anyway. It’s enlightening.
Eric test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors and he writes, "For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine.” Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran on the battery. So, the range including the 9-gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles.
It will take you 4.5 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10 hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5 hours. In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging time) would be 20 mph.
According to General Motors, the Volt battery holds 16 kwh of electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery. The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned, so I looked up what I pay for electricity. I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16 per kwh. 16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery. $18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery. Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine that gets only 32 mpg. $3.19 per gallon divided by 32 mpg = $0.10 per mile.
The gasoline powered car costs about $20,000 while the Volt costs $46,000-plus. So the American Government wants loyal Americans not to do the math, but simply pay three times as much for a car, that costs more than seven times as much to run, and takes three times longer to drive across the country. topic but interesting.
This info was on the 43rd Ieee Conference webpage Dated June 30.
Multilayer Foil Metallization for All Back Contact Cells
David H Levy1& David E Carlson2
1Natcore Technology, Rochester, NY, United States
/2CarlsonPV, Williamsburg, VA, United States
Back-contact back-junction (BCBJ) solar cells have outstanding advantages, such as the elimination of front grid shadowing and minimized cell to module loss. Despite these benefits, the widespread implementation of this cell structure at large scale requires cost reduction, including simplified metallization methods.
We present progress on BCBJ cells with a novel low-cost metallization based upon aluminum foil / polyethylene terephthalate (PET) laminates. As opposed to more common interdigitated back contact (IBC) designs, the current approach is a multilayer metallization with two aluminum layers separated by the PET insulating film. The cell design promises to be low cost by leveraging inexpensive aluminum laminates, manufacturable in high volume in roll-to-roll processes, thus improving upon the cost of other approaches such as screen printing of silver pastes in IBC finger patterns.
A number of demonstration cell architectures are described, all based upon a silicon heterojunction emitter. An initial test structure combining a foil laminate emitter connection with laser-fired base contacts and evaporated base aluminum film yielded an efficiency of 18.8%. BCBJ cells with both base and emitter foils are also discussed, enabled by a method to coat Al foils with a phosphorus dopant that allows n+ laser fired contacts to be formed, despite Al being a p-type dopant. Finally, recent work on foil cells constructed with carrier-selective base contacts has yielded BCBJ solar cells with efficiencies as high as 20.3%.
All of the above structures demonstrate the ability to use multilayer foils without shorting, a common problem with multilayer structures employing thinner dielectrics.
Area: Sub-Area 4.6: Metallization, Contact Formation and Module Integration
I got an email from Tom Scarpa. For some reason I can't transport the info to this site so here goes in a nutshell. Chuck signed the license agreement. The Prime Minister of Vietnam also signed. Chuck visited the site. It was a successful trip & substantial progress was made in moving the project along. The PM also confirmed the Govts commitment for Power Purchase agreements of 9.35 cents per KW that would last 2 years for approval projects & terms of 20 yrs upon completion of the project. The developers introduced Chuck to 1 large bank & he negotiated a bank guarantee & extended financing. This was important since out-of-country financing will often require an in-country bank guarantee to protect lenders from currency risk.
On this trip our in-country partners introduced Chuck to a power engineering subsidiary of the primary energy company to integrate our pre-feasibility with one they would create, ensuring that all the engineering work & grid connections would be compliant with Vietnamese regulation laws. We are now evaluating EPC, manufacturers & over resources to integrate into this SPV to move the project to construction. There were also some pictures. One was of Chuck in his uniform when he was in the war & also one signing the agreement.
Provini sold 53000 shares at .24 April 7 for a total of $12,720.00.
Yes Coin I'm getting very impatient to. I've had this stock for 5 years at least and I'm not getting any younger. I pictured travelling around Europe in my Ferrari with my stock winnings, instead I'll be travelling around in my wheelchair if ever. The only time they come out with news is when they want to do a private placement.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. , April 4, 2017 /CNW/ -- Natcore Technology Inc. (TSX-V: NXT; OTCQB: NTCXF; Frankfurt : 8NT) has signed a joint development agreement with Coveme spa, the Italian company that is a leading innovator in the manufacture and conversion of polyester films.
Natcore has recently developed the Natcore Foil Cell, which combines a revolutionary laser process with a novel metallization strategy, thus enabling high-efficiency cell architectures at low cost.
The key feature: metallization of the cell by direct attachment of a bilayer aluminum foil laminate. The concept simplifies the fabrication of several silicon-based, all-back contact cell architectures, allowing for high-speed, low-cost manufacturing methods.
Importantly, it also eliminates the need for silver, one of the highest-cost components of a conventional solar cell.
Under the terms of the Agreement, Natcore and Coveme will collaborate in order to assess and develop high throughput methods to produce laser-processed all-back-contacts on silicon solar cells.
Founded in 1965, Coveme treats, coats, heat-stabilizes and laminates polyester film for various industrial applications, such as photovoltaic modules, biomedical sensor strips, electrical insulation, automotive uses and flexible packaging. The company is based in San Lazzaro di Savena, Italy , and has production sites in Gorizia, Italy and Zhangjiagang, China .
"We developed the technology behind the Foil Cell in our Rochester lab," Says Chuck Provini, Natcore President and CEO. "But we need additional expertise to help take it to the next level. Nobody is better equipped than Coveme to provide that expertise. Coveme will help us develop a full-scale prototype and ready the cell for production."
"Natcore will develop their foil all-back-contact process to be compatible with foil designs and samples provided by Coveme," says Gian Paolo Fedrigo , Coveme's CEO. "They will construct devices using their own technology along with foil samples from Coveme. We will give them information regarding foil contact structures, and we'll design and fabricate foil samples for their use in constructing test solar cells."
The Project Managers will be David Levy for Natcore and Matteo Racchi for Coveme. Dr. Levy is Natcore's Director of Research and Technology.
The all-back-contact solar cell is generally recognized as a very efficient structure. Indeed, a cell of this type holds the world record for silicon cell efficiency at 25.6%. In November, Natcore announced that they had achieved efficiencies of 19.4%. At that time, Dr. Levy said "Considering the rapid achievement of these good results, prior even to serious optimization of this new approach, we expect to announce devices soon with efficiencies considerably over 20%."
Natcore Technology Inc. has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a Malta-based developer of international renewable energy projects under which Natcore would serve as the science and technology advisor for a large vertically-integrated project in the Middle East.
The 1,000 MW project would comprise:
• A solar array consisting of 100 individual solar power plants, each with a capacity of at least 10 MW;
• A manufacturing facility for the production of photovoltaic modules; and
• A facility for the manufacturing of solar cells.
DK Ener Group Ltd. (DK), a company organized under the laws of Malta, is retaining Natcore for this project. DK is composed of highly experienced and respected entrepreneurs, managers, professionals and researchers who identify, promote and develop international investment opportunities, with a particular emphasis on renewable energy projects including solar energy projects. The principals of DK have successfully conceived, developed and implemented projects internationally, including the building of turnkey solar farms.
This project arose from Natcore’s “Best of Breed” consulting service through which it provides unbiased business, science and technical advice to potential new solar cell and solar panel manufacturers and to established solar manufacturers wishing to upgrade their facilities.Natcore will serve as DK’s science and technology advisor on the project. As part of their service, Natcore will recommend a “best of breed” selection of manufacturing equipment and components, and will offer limited exclusivity to incorporate new technology developed by Natcore when such technology becomes commercially available.
“This is the fourth project to come from our Best of Breed program,” says Natcore President and CEO Chuck Provini. “And it’s by far our largest.” The others are in Belize (10 MW), Vietnam (200 MW) and Australia (30 MW).
This was dated Oct 26/2016. I haven't seen this before.
I found this interesting on Dr. Flood's white paper which you can see on investors hub.
The opportunity for growth in the global photovoltaic solar energy sector over the next decade or more is
substantial, with the United States market alone estimated to grow to 7 to 10 times its current levels in just
the next 5 years or so. Most of this growth will be fueled by silicon solar cell technology. The silicon
solar cell segment of that market can be expected to generate revenues in the range of $14B to $25B in
that time frame, assuming an average price for the cells is about $0.50 per watt of output power, a not
unreasonable target.
Things seem to be going well. In there news letter dated December they say they have South Africa, Ukraine/Moldova & the Philippines in the pipeline. Lets hope 2017 will be a good year.
Great news, thanks for the info.
As seen on stockhouse.
SKYS is up around 50% on a lower contract than NXT
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sky-solar-holdings-ltd-announces-123000725.html
Much bigger market cap and gains over 50% on a 17 billion yen deal. What a BS market we're on with the Venture.
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/v.nxt/natcore-technology-inc#Ch86tOZLL30ff3gh.99s
There is no way in hell that Natcore should be trading at 38cents!!!
With all the shares going through, there must be a major deal in the works.
On Sedar they don't have an end date.
Natcore Technology 3,840,700 warrants extended
2015-07-10 18:15 ET - Miscellaneous
The TSX Venture Exchange has consented to the extension in the expiry date of the following warrants.
Private placement
Number of warrants: 3,840,700
Original expiry date of warrants: July 20, 2014, and amended to July 20, 2015
New expiry date of warrants: July 20, 2017
Exercise price of warrants: 90 cents, subject to an acceleration clause
These warrants were issued pursuant to a private placement of 4,166,700 shares, with 4,166,700 share purchase warrants attached, which was accepted for filing by the exchange effective July 19, 2012.
© 2015 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Teq I'm beginning to think your an insider. Your not Provini are you? You seem to shoot down anyone with an opinion other than yours.
Please, no more scientists. What we need is a stock promoter. I have been in this stock for 3 years now. I bought in at .80 and it has steadily declined since then. I would love to make a few bucks before I die.
In our paper this morning there is an article "The Australian government's $10 billion clean energy bank is set to announce a number of solar deals as it looks at investments in industries from mining to manufacturing. It would be nice if some of the funds go to Natcore.
In our paper this morning it mentions Warren Buffett is betting on renewable power. He says We've poured billions & billions and billions of dollars in retained earnings, and several billion of additional equity into the energy business, and we're going to keep doing that as far as the eye can see. The business has committed 15 billion to renewable energy projects, like a solar farm in California that will be one of the world's largest when its completed in 2015.
T-bone Pickens also seems to be getting in to Renewables. Surely Natcore can get a small piece of the pie in the US.
Teq,you are one cracky old coot but I do get a laugh on some your answers.
Yesterday I put an order in for 8000 shares at .67 for the week. I got 1500 yesterday at .67 and the rest this morning at 65. I'm not complaining but it looks like someone is trying to lower the price. Has this happened to anyone else?
Natcore Technology, a New Jersey company known for its work on black silicon, has brought on an Italian solar company executive as a technical advisor.
Dr. Daniele Margodanna is the chief technology officer for MX Group SpA in Italy and is now part of an official advisory board for Natcore.
He has extensive technical knowledge and is familiar not only with developing new solar photovoltaic products, but also with commercializing them.
“He’s forgotten more about the solar industry than we ever knew,” said Natcore CEO Chuck Provini.
When Margodanna first discovered Natcore, he came out for a presentation.
“I was making my pitch,” Provini said. “And I give a pretty good presentation – talking about doubling efficiencies and all that.”
When Provini finished, Margodanna asked about cell-to-module loss.
“We had no idea what that was,” Provini said.
Concentrating on making more efficient solar cells, Provini said Natcore leaders had not thought to consider what would happen when the cell became part of a solar module. Margodanna can help Natcore scientists think of issues and solve problems they didn’t realize existed. Having that extra insight will help guide the company down the path to commercialization, Provini said.
“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” Provini said.
Bringing Margodanna on as a consultant will help the company avoid releasing anything prematurely, something to be mindful about as the company approaches market readiness with its prototype machine and perfects its black silicon process.
Provini said the company will rely on Margodanna in the coming months to guide the company toward commercialization with its current product, but hopes he will also be able to help in developing other technologies Natcore hopes to work on after completing the black silicon project. The company has patented a unique liquid-phase deposition technology that could have thousands of applications in the solar photovoltaic world.
Provini said Natcore is not paying Margodanna, but is instead offering him stock in exchange for his help and is also working with MX Solar.
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Chuck Provini
732-576-8800
Info@NatcoreSolar.com
Wendy Ahearn Joins Natcore Technology
As Materials Science Technician
Red Bank, NJ — (November 26, 2012) — Wendy G. Ahearn has joined Natcore Technology Inc.
(TSX-V: NXT; NTCXF.PK) as a Materials Science Technician. She will be based at the company’s
R&D Center in Eastman Business Park, Rochester, NY.
Ms. Ahearn comes to Natcore from Eastman Kodak Co., where she worked for 17 years, most
recently as a Research Laboratory Technician–Scientist Assistant. At Kodak, she was involved with
novel materials and process development and with analytical methods and techniques.
Wendy Ahearn has an Applied Associate of Science degree in Chemical Technology from Corning
Community College. She is working toward a BS in chemistry at Monroe Community College and
SUNY Brockport. She is a graduate of Horseheads High School, Horeseheads, NY.
Ms. Ahearn is inventor or co-inventor of six patents as well as several pending patents, and is a coauthor
of five peer-reviewed journal articles. She is a resident of Rochester.
# # # # #
Neither TSX
Intere
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Misc. Gadgets, Science, Transportation
Inhabitat's Week in Green: solar-powered plane, chrome Fisker Karma and the 'blackest' solar cells ever
By Inhabitat posted Apr 15th 2012 8:00PM
Feature
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.
With the days getting longer and the spring sun creeping into the evening hours this week, we saw a host of impressive solar energy projects that put those rays to work. Kyocera revealed their plan for Japan's largest solar farm and French company Areva announced they will be building the largest solar installation in Asia. On the other side of the globe, New York City was proud to say that it recently tripled its solar power production and a new study showed that the United States pulled ahead of China in the clean energy race this year. We also saw designs for a new solar satellite that could harvest the sun's rays 24/7 and we ogled photos of the massive array of PV panels topping the zHome complex in Washington. A team at Natcore blew away the scientific community by creating the "blackest" solar cell ever designed and Panasonic gave us a sneak peek at its shimmering, solar-powered "Photosynthesis" Ecosystem installation, which will light up the night at the Milan Furniture Fair next week.
In green transportation news, Justin Bieber's blindingly shiny chrome Fisker Karma had people talking (and putting on their sunglasses), while the former head of R&D at GM predicted that we'll see driverless cars by 2020. Honda announced that it is teaming up with Zipcar to provide EVs and hybrids to Zipsters and Ferrari confirmed that its future V12 models will have a new hybrid system. Finally, SolarWorld sent us news about their new Elektra solar-powered plane, which can fly twice as far as its predecessor.
Smart design continued to make the world a little better with innovations like this vibrating glove that lets blind people text and Montessori's Intro to Letters app, which teaches kids the alphabet. We also got back into nature (literally) with these see-through bubble tents surrounded by trees, and we reflected upon the mysterious human-shaped mirror sculptures that popped up in a Scottish forest.
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Matthew Von Brook6 days ago
that last link up there links to the wrong story... i don't care about bees
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Manov rao6 days ago
It's incredible.
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+
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Jinan Niyaz6 days ago
Looks like a satellite crash site to me ;)
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+
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Robert Marchini6 days ago
Several of those solar panels face towards the ground. Who exactly expected them to generate electricity
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rhomaion6 days ago
"Hey, look at that cool car!"
"What cool car?" *sizzle sound* "Ahhh, my eyes!!!"
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+ 1
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Michael D6 days agoin reply to rhomaion
I was thinking the exact same thing. Somebody will have an accident and file a lawsuit against that guy.
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Formul6 days ago
That chrome stuff on Karma is about as bad as what bieber does to the songs he molests ... so i guess it fits him perfectly. Also how is it even legal to change your car into a mirror?
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+ 2
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Firehazel6 days ago
Ooh Chrome car!
Wait, it's owned by Bieber?
Not cool anymore.
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+ 7
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MisterCats6 days agoin reply to Firehazel
Fishin' for + clicks.
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Matthew Von Brook6 days agoin reply to MisterCats
it worked though
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MisterCats5 days agoin reply to Matthew Von Brook
Okay.
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StephenLivshits6 days agoin reply to Firehazel
What an original joke
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+ 1
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Steven Dunbar6 days ago
That new solar technology (black silicon) combined with more efficient etching and design may be just what the industry needs. Obviously this may be said too much but black has to be the best absorbing design.
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drewby086 days ago
Word wrapped photos on Engadget!? Thats new.
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deV14nt6 days agoin reply to drewby08
The cyan-obsessed web designers at AOL/Engadget just discovered the css float.
Must be from their pent up excitement at a chance to finally cover Justin Bieber.
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Jose Raul S C6 days ago
muy bueno. I . +. ( . /.
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Kodak: could its 'Made in the USA' roll-to-roll business offer a bright future in solar?
By John Johnson on Feb 27, 2012
Many are betting on Kodak turning to its roll-to-roll manufacturing prowess to help it get out of financial trouble and to re-launch into the solar sector. Could Kodak help create a 'Made in the USA' PV market as price dumping trade battles linger with China?
When you mention Kodak, most people still think of the legacy it built in the camera film business. However, the company’s “Kodak moment” is fading quickly.
In January Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection and obtained a $950 million, 18-month credit agreement from Citigroup ( http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/Kodak_Transforms/Home.htm). As the company navigates through the bankruptcy process, Kodak is banking on another kind of film -- photovoltaic solar thin film -- as a possible ticket to its future success.
Kodak execs say the company possesses many of the assets required to make thin film solar panels, although substantial capital investment would be required to manufacture PV at full scale.
Kodak is working with a number of third parties, including start-up Natcore Technologies, to create flexible solar cells that could some day roll off Kodak’s silenced film production lines at its manufacturing facilities in Rochester, N.Y.
“We feel like we can use those manufacturing tools in a lot of different areas, specifically in energy harvesting, and PV plays a role in that,” says Brian Johnston, director of external alliances at Kodak. “We’re looking at leveraging our capabilities to become business partners in that market segment.”
Solar money
Just how would financially strapped Kodak make money from thin film solar? Kodak hopes to assist start-ups in commercializing their products, which would result in Kodak receiving royalties from intellectual property agreements or through manufacturing agreements.
Kodak has a development agreement with Natcore to commercialize its roll-to-roll flexible solar cell. Natcore researchers have discovered a way to weave carbon nanotubes into fabric, and then manufacture a solar panel that is flexible and much less expensive to produce and install. At the same time, the product would be just as efficient as the best commercial solar panels on the market, with efficiency between 16 and 18 percent.
Natcore estimates that it would cost up to $200 million to build a facility from scratch to make the panels. By re-tooling Kodak’s existing equipment, it could likely produce the panels a one-tenth of that cost.
“Our approach is to leverage the things that Kodak is known,” says Bruce Graham, director of communications for corporate research & engineering at Kodak.
“If you look at our expertise and core capabilities in material sciences, substrate expertise, roll-to-roll conveyance and deposition capabilities in coating and printing, we have a variety of expertise. We’ve also got a tremendous amount of IT know-how and experience dealing with materials like flexible substrates.”
Natcore has also opened a new Research & Development Center in Kodak’s Eastman Business Park, where it hopes to benefit from the cutting-edge clean rooms and support facilities that Kodak invested more than $18 million to create. Natcore has hired several former Kodak employees to run its research lab.
On a roll
“In spite of its current problems, there are not too many people in the world that know more about the roll to roll film manufacturing business than Kodak,” said Tom Scarpa, senior vice president of business development at Natcore.
However, he notes that Natcore is also exploring other manufacturing options in case Kodak does not emerge from bankruptcy.
“Our joint development agreement is still in full effect, and we’re not sure what the outcome will be,” says Scarpa. “We are exploring other options to develop and bring our technology to commercialization, although we would certainly like to do it at Kodak since we have a new lab facility there. We’ll have to see how Kodak emerges from this bankruptcy.”
Kodak officials won’t comment on whether photovoltaic will be included in the re-organization plan it must file to emerge from bankruptcy, but it is apparent that the company views the sector as a viable business opportunity, given its strong background in film technologies. The company is on record that functional printing will remain one of the growth areas for the company going forward.
Undoubtedly, the film manufacturer is at a major cross roads in its history as is the US PV solar sector. With a lingering trade dispute with China over solar module price dumping, the US government could see Kodak's predicament as another financial noose or as a potential 'Made in the USA' underdog story that could fill a gap with niche segments of the US solar market.
A lot has to be decided and delivered within the next 12 to 18 months or the likely scenario will likely be the business falling into the hands of cash rich foreign buyers.
Better the devil you know
While Kodak could gain financially from licensing its technology and helping start-ups hit the market with commercially viable product, it remains to be seen if Kodak will become a major player in full-scale PV production.
The company doesn’t have the manufacturing capacity at present to run a full-scale, high-production PV operation, which is a requirement to produce solar panels at a cost effective rate.
With its current assets, Kodak is equipped to offer pilot scale manufacturing suitable for small volume runs. Kodak must also deal with unfavorable current business conditions, including low-cost manufacturing in China, which has flooded the market with solar panels and resulted in massive price deterioration.
“We’re really going back to what we’re good at,” says Johnston. “In essence when you look at a roll-to-roll environment, it is the manufacture of film and we’ve been doing it for a long, long time. It’s just a different material and potentially a different deposition technology.”
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