EANS-News: centrotherm photovoltaics AG reports selective emitter technology success: 17.1 percent average efficiency on multi-crystalline material

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Blaubeuren (euro adhoc) - centrotherm photovoltaics reports selective
emitter technology success: 17.1 percent average efficiency on
multi-crystalline material

• Mono: New back side achieves best values of 18.6 percent
• Values significantly exceed the current industrial average

Blaubeuren, December 17, 2009 - centrotherm photovoltaics AG is
reporting an additional milestone achievement of its solar cell
division. Once again documenting the strong performance of its
in-house research and development, average efficiencies of 17.1
percent have now been achieved on high-quality, multi-crystalline
customer material. The reference surface area of the related wafers
is 156 times 156 mm². Consequently, all values significantly exceed
the current industrial average of around 15.7 percent. With these
results, the photovoltaic specialists from Blaubeuren demonstrate the
great potential inherent in the selective emitter technology in the
multi-crystalline area. centrotherm photovoltaics already guarantees
production efficiencies of 16.6 percent for the mass production of
multi-crystalline cells using the "FlexLine Plus" turnkey production
line presented in March 2009. The efficiency enhancements achieved
are the result of the newly developed cell front side based on
selective emitter technology. First production lines with selective
emitter technology have been sold to Asia.

Selective emitter technology The emitter coating is the uppermost
coating of a solar cell exposed to light. Conventional emitters
exhibit a high phosphorus concentration. As a consequence, most of
the light that the emitter absorbs is converted into heat, and cannot
contribute to electricity generation within the solar cell. The
selective emitter technology significantly diminishes this absorption
loss applying a high phosphorus concentration only to a partial area
where it is essential. This enlarges the effective cell area that can
absorb light, and convert it into electricity.

Research and development results available as upgrade for existing
customers centrotherm photovoltaics is directly passing on the
achieved development progress to customers in the form of upgrade
options for existing turnkey production lines: the company is thereby
optimizing standard processes that have been available on the market
to date, which employ homogeneous emitters. At the same time,
innovative production processes such as the selective emitter
technology are being developed in such a way that they can be
integrated and retrofitted into existing process flows. centrotherm
photovoltaics is pursuing a research and development roadmap that
envisages an annual efficiency enhancement of 0.5 percent in the
mono- and 0.4 percent in the multi-crystalline cell areas. "An
efficiency enhancement of 0.5 percent allows production costs to be
cut by around 3 percent," was how Dr. Peter Fath, CTO of centrotherm
photovoltaics, summed up the significance of this goal. "This allows
us to continuously realize cost-saving potentials for our customers
that strengthen their competitiveness."

New back side achieves best values of 18.6 percent without selective
emitter (mono) Following the optimization of the cell front side
based on selective emitter technology, the company's continued
roadmap aims to restructure the cell back side as part of the next
step. Already in the initial process runs for the new cell back side,
the centrotherm photovoltaics research and development team has
achieved best values of 18.6 percent on a mono-crystalline material.
The company anticipates that significantly higher results can be
attained in combination with the selective emitter technology on the
cell front side. "Using selective emitters and further retrofitting
packages, we are achieving efficiency enhancements for crystalline
solar cells that hold potential for the mass production of
high-efficiency cells," Dr. Fath went on to comment. "We are already
significantly ahead of our roadmap objectives for 2009."

About centrotherm photovoltaics AG centrotherm photovoltaics AG,
which is based at Blaubeuren, is one of the world's leading
technology and equipment providers for the manufacturing of solar
silicon, crystalline solar cells and CIGS thin film modules. The
broad product spectrum comprises key equipment and turnkey production
lines for crystalline and thin-film solar cells. The product range is
supplemented by reactors and converters for the manufacturing of
solar silicon. centrotherm photovoltaics guarantees its customers
important performance parameters such as production capacity, degree
of efficacy, and completion deadlines for turnkey lines. The Group
employs around 1,100 staff members, and operates in Europe, Asia and
the USA. centrotherm photovoltaics achieved revenue in the 2008
financial year of EUR375 million, EBIT of EUR56 million*, and is
listed in the TecDax of the Frankfurt Securities Exchange. (*before
purchase price allocations)

Company contact:
Saskia Schultz-Ebert
Senior Manager Investor Relations
Tel: +49 7344 918-8890
E-mail: saskia.schultz-ebert@centrotherm.de

Press contact:
Christina Siebels, Grit Pauli
HOSCHKE & CONSORTEN Public Relations GmbH
Tel: +49 40 3690 50-58 /-31
E-mail: c.siebels@hoschke.de; g.pauli@hoschke.de

end of announcement euro adhoc
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ots Originaltext: centrotherm photovoltaics AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:

Saskia Schultz-Ebert

Tel: +49 (0) 7344 918-8890

saskia.schultz-ebert@centrotherm.de

Branche: Energy
ISIN: DE000A0JMMN2
WKN: A0JMMN
Index: TecDAX
Börsen: Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
Berlin / free trade
Hamburg / free trade
Stuttgart / free trade
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München / free trade