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Replies to post #1132 on Natcore Technology Inc (NTCXF)
I asked Tom Scarpa about MicroTech's IPS. I wondered if Natcore's name change to AR-Box, from NIPS, was due to a conflict of any kind. He said no, Natcore wanted to trademark the AR-Box name.
I also asked Tom what Microtech's IPS would be used for. He said that MicroTech has been providing equipment to the semi-conductor industry for 25 years and that every semi-conductor goes through the costly and hazardous chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, which involves high temperature ovens. These ovens are similar to the ovens that Natcore's AR-Boxes will replace in the solar industry.
Tom said that Natcore and Microtech may work together to replace the ovens used in the semi-conductor industry.
“Right now, prices from China are extremely attractive,” said Ed Wegener, Solon’s Vice President of PV Products for its American division. “There are structural advantages that the Chinese have that will keep a spread between the Chinese and U.S. manufacturers. Oversupply, government policy and scale are really what drives that.”
The scale, said Wegener, may be the biggest factor. As several-hundred MW projects become the norm, smaller American manufacturers struggle to get in the game on their home turf.
“The issue we kept coming back to was scale,” he said. “We’re a small player in a business that is more and more dominated by people that are 10 to 15 times our size. And I couldn’t see a way forward where we had a competitive enough cost structure without investment beyond the resources of our company.”
"The news that Chinese researchers anticipate solar could be as cheap as coal power by 2015 follows many reports this year predicting solar is set to achieve a major cost breakthrough with sustained investment today," said Johns.
"The STA urges the UK government to take notice of mounting evidence about the potential of solar, and to reconsider their assumptions that solar is a technology that is too expensive to deploy in the UK.
"Clearly some people in China believe solar could be cheaper than coal by the end of this Parliament. This is not a technology anyone can afford to ignore, particularly given the UK does have some major manufacturing opportunities."
