As Silicon Valley increases its attention on solar technology, chip-related companies like Applied Materials are poised to capitalize on the growing market.
April 23, 2007 (Press Release) --
As Silicon Valley increases its attention on solar technology, chip-related companies like Applied Materials are poised to capitalize on the growing market.
Michael Splinter, chief executive of the 40-year-old maker of chip production equipment, believes that the solar business holds the key to new growth at his Santa Clara company. The big challenge is to drive down costs so that solar can be more competitive with oil and coal.
"When you look at the energy field, it clearly has to be transformed on a worldwide basis," Splinter said in a recent interview with the Mercury News.
"This is a place where real technology can play a significant role."
The growing interest in alternative energy is already evident in Silicon Valley. Last year, venture capitalists poured $271 million into clean technology companies in the valley, almost a third of the $884 million invested worldwide. Investments should continue into the foreseeable future.
Solar technology is not a hard sell to the public, Splinter said. Photovoltaic cells that generate electricity from sunlight without pollution are like flat panel TVs: Everyone wants one if the price is right, he said.
There are two primary ways to make solar cells. The majority are made on square silicon wafers and pieced together into panels. Others are produced in "thin-films" of silicon and coat sheets of glass or plastic.
Still, for solar to achieve pricing parity with conventional sources of power, solar cell performance and manufacturing efficiencies need to improve two to three times above current levels. That is a goal Applied Materials hopes to achieve.
Here are edited excerpts of the Mercury News interview with Splinter:
QWhy do you think the interest in solar and alternative energies is coming together in the public's mind right now?
AI think that a number of things came together in the last two years. Certainly with the Iraq war, people understand the vulnerability of our oil supply from the Middle East. At the same time, the whole news about global warming has been brought to the forefront by Al Gore and others who have been working on the environment for a long time. I think the confluence of these events really brings it home. People don't like paying $3 for a gallon of gas.
QHow much solar capacity is there right now?
ALast year when you add up all the solar cells made in the world, they added up to 1.9 gigawatts. This is substantially smaller than 1 percent of the incremental electrical needs of the world. So we are still not having an impact. You can see that the scale here really hasn't hit in solar cells, or photovoltaics, yet.
QHow long will it take to get the cost of solar energy on par with other forms of energy generation, like oil and coal?
AIn a power plant situation it is going to be between five and 10 years to really get the kilowatt-hour comparable. But there are all kinds of applications (ready) before that. If you look at your power bill, you can see your peak usage rate. (About 36 cents for residents of San Jose.) Solar has already passed that. It's already economical. That's why you see companies, such as ours and Wal-Mart, and schools, putting solar in.
QWhat cost improvements can you see right now for solar power?
AToday a gigawatt coal plant costs about $1.6 billion, depending upon where it is. (That's $1.60 a watt.) We'd like to get the capital costs of solar per watt down to under a dollar. We should be able to do that with improved efficiency and increase scale."
QSilicon Valley has been transformed over the years by computer chips, software and the Internet. Will solar technology transform the valley yet again?
AI don't think we should leave out biotech as one of the elements of the valley. (The valley is known for) its innovativeness, its engineering, and its pioneering, entrepreneurial culture. Pretty much when you challenge that intellect and that capability with a problem that needs solving, a whole bunch of great ideas and great people stand up and work to solve the problem. It is exactly the kind of issue that I think is just perfectly fit for this valley, one that can use invention and creation and new companies.
Will it totally transform the valley? I think it already has. Just think about a year ago, how dead the business climate was here. It's made a huge change already in a year, and I think we are just at the beginning.
QThe federal solar tax credit expires at the end of the year. Should it be renewed?
AWe think that this tax credit should be passed and essentially be made permanent over an eight-year period. By that time the industry should be able to get on par (with other power generation) and it should be able to stand on its own. From Applied Materials' standpoint we don't want an industry that is relying on government incentives over the long term.
QCountries such as Germany and Japan have been leaders in solar technology. Do you worry about the United States being left behind?
AOf course. As an American citizen I am concerned about this. They are far ahead, so it is a real danger. The Fraunhofer (Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany) is the leading center on solar research today.
QWhat should we do to close the gap?
AThe investment tax credit has to (pass). The solar rights bill needs to go through. The rest of the states could take a lesson from California. I think our governor has been particularly progressive. On a local level, people can start demanding alternative energy from their power companies.
It came to light inside our company (that) we can buy clean energy from our power company. It's a little more expensive than regular power. Companies can start pushing to (generate) demand for alternative energy.
QHow can government policy play a role in promoting alternative energy?
AOne of the things our government can do is to start setting policy that their new electricity needs are to be fed from renewable sources. They are the biggest electricity user in the country, by far. If demand goes up, generation will go up.
QDo you think the government should set a mandate?
AAbsolutely. I think something like 25 or 30 percent by 2020 is a reasonable thing to do. I'm saying all renewable sources.
QWhat role can corporations play?
AWhat we're doing inside Applied is we're taking a target of reducing 50,000 equivalent tons of carbon per year, that's about 20 percent reduction, true reduction, of where we are today, by 2012. I challenge other companies and CEOs to do the same.
Author: Mark Boslet
Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/
Michael Splinter, chief executive of the 40-year-old maker of chip production equipment, believes that the solar business holds the key to new growth at his Santa Clara company. The big challenge is to drive down costs so that solar can be more competitive with oil and coal.
"When you look at the energy field, it clearly has to be transformed on a worldwide basis," Splinter said in a recent interview with the Mercury News.
"This is a place where real technology can play a significant role."
The growing interest in alternative energy is already evident in Silicon Valley. Last year, venture capitalists poured $271 million into clean technology companies in the valley, almost a third of the $884 million invested worldwide. Investments should continue into the foreseeable future.
Solar technology is not a hard sell to the public, Splinter said. Photovoltaic cells that generate electricity from sunlight without pollution are like flat panel TVs: Everyone wants one if the price is right, he said.
There are two primary ways to make solar cells. The majority are made on square silicon wafers and pieced together into panels. Others are produced in "thin-films" of silicon and coat sheets of glass or plastic.
Still, for solar to achieve pricing parity with conventional sources of power, solar cell performance and manufacturing efficiencies need to improve two to three times above current levels. That is a goal Applied Materials hopes to achieve.
Here are edited excerpts of the Mercury News interview with Splinter:
QWhy do you think the interest in solar and alternative energies is coming together in the public's mind right now?
AI think that a number of things came together in the last two years. Certainly with the Iraq war, people understand the vulnerability of our oil supply from the Middle East. At the same time, the whole news about global warming has been brought to the forefront by Al Gore and others who have been working on the environment for a long time. I think the confluence of these events really brings it home. People don't like paying $3 for a gallon of gas.
QHow much solar capacity is there right now?
ALast year when you add up all the solar cells made in the world, they added up to 1.9 gigawatts. This is substantially smaller than 1 percent of the incremental electrical needs of the world. So we are still not having an impact. You can see that the scale here really hasn't hit in solar cells, or photovoltaics, yet.
QHow long will it take to get the cost of solar energy on par with other forms of energy generation, like oil and coal?
AIn a power plant situation it is going to be between five and 10 years to really get the kilowatt-hour comparable. But there are all kinds of applications (ready) before that. If you look at your power bill, you can see your peak usage rate. (About 36 cents for residents of San Jose.) Solar has already passed that. It's already economical. That's why you see companies, such as ours and Wal-Mart, and schools, putting solar in.
QWhat cost improvements can you see right now for solar power?
AToday a gigawatt coal plant costs about $1.6 billion, depending upon where it is. (That's $1.60 a watt.) We'd like to get the capital costs of solar per watt down to under a dollar. We should be able to do that with improved efficiency and increase scale."
QSilicon Valley has been transformed over the years by computer chips, software and the Internet. Will solar technology transform the valley yet again?
AI don't think we should leave out biotech as one of the elements of the valley. (The valley is known for) its innovativeness, its engineering, and its pioneering, entrepreneurial culture. Pretty much when you challenge that intellect and that capability with a problem that needs solving, a whole bunch of great ideas and great people stand up and work to solve the problem. It is exactly the kind of issue that I think is just perfectly fit for this valley, one that can use invention and creation and new companies.
Will it totally transform the valley? I think it already has. Just think about a year ago, how dead the business climate was here. It's made a huge change already in a year, and I think we are just at the beginning.
QThe federal solar tax credit expires at the end of the year. Should it be renewed?
AWe think that this tax credit should be passed and essentially be made permanent over an eight-year period. By that time the industry should be able to get on par (with other power generation) and it should be able to stand on its own. From Applied Materials' standpoint we don't want an industry that is relying on government incentives over the long term.
QCountries such as Germany and Japan have been leaders in solar technology. Do you worry about the United States being left behind?
AOf course. As an American citizen I am concerned about this. They are far ahead, so it is a real danger. The Fraunhofer (Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany) is the leading center on solar research today.
QWhat should we do to close the gap?
AThe investment tax credit has to (pass). The solar rights bill needs to go through. The rest of the states could take a lesson from California. I think our governor has been particularly progressive. On a local level, people can start demanding alternative energy from their power companies.
It came to light inside our company (that) we can buy clean energy from our power company. It's a little more expensive than regular power. Companies can start pushing to (generate) demand for alternative energy.
QHow can government policy play a role in promoting alternative energy?
AOne of the things our government can do is to start setting policy that their new electricity needs are to be fed from renewable sources. They are the biggest electricity user in the country, by far. If demand goes up, generation will go up.
QDo you think the government should set a mandate?
AAbsolutely. I think something like 25 or 30 percent by 2020 is a reasonable thing to do. I'm saying all renewable sources.
QWhat role can corporations play?
AWhat we're doing inside Applied is we're taking a target of reducing 50,000 equivalent tons of carbon per year, that's about 20 percent reduction, true reduction, of where we are today, by 2012. I challenge other companies and CEOs to do the same.
Author: Mark Boslet
Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/
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