Speaker: Asa Such, SANYO Energy (USA) Corporation. Founded over 50 years ago in Osaka, Japan, SANYO is currently the largest supplier of rechargeable batteries in the world.
SANYO is currently in the process of becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Panasonic, which is expected to be completed by April 2011. The green technologies available from SANYO and Panasonic together will be second to none. Specifically, Panasonic and SANYO
will be the world’s leader in green energy, for solar and rechargeable batteries.
Our hybrid Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin Layer solar cell, or HIT cell, combines the best of two solar technologies –a-Si and monocrystalline. This combination allows for high efficiency in converting sunlight to power. The HIT panel is extremely efficient, often considered unmatched in power output, especially when combined with a commercial roof. HIT technology has been on the market for over ten years.
There are two types of solar systems: thin film, cost-effective but lower efficiency, and crystalline, typically higher efficiency with higher costs – this is the more typical panel currently prevalent on homes or business roofs. Thin film is advantageous because it performs better under higher temperature conditions. While direct sunlight might appear to be the best time for solar, typical crystalline solar panels are still electric components, meaning that performance typically degrades in heat. SANYO HIT panels incorporate both of these technologies, taking advantage of these characteristics to outperform competitors.
Efficiency is 17 to 18% on the HIT module. Thin film is down in the 10% area, and crystalline is at 13%. While on the surface the differences in percentages may not be very large, when building a rooftop solar system, this means 25 to 30% more kilowatt hours over the lifetime of the system. HIT cells are ideal because of their high temperature performance and higher efficiency for installations with limited space. Of course SANYO never sells a panel that performs below its rated nameplate.
A large company like SANYO is very valuable to the solar industry for several reasons. As the solar industry just came of age in 2005 and 2006, there are many brand new solar companies, causing banks and other financial backers to be more hesitant to finance
solar projects. SANYO, however, has bankability because it offers products outside of solar, allowing it to receive the financing necessary to fund solar projects, which can last from 20 to 35 years. The solar industry is largely dependent on government incentives, and when not readily available, diverse companies like SANYO or Panasonic will still succeed.
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