Catalyst for new technology
Dr. Rutger Schlatmann on PVcomB
What is PVcomB?
Rutger Schlatmann – PVcomB, or the Competence Centre Thin-Film and Nanotechnology for Photovoltaics Berlin, is an initiative of the HZB, the Berlin Helmholtz Centre, and the TU, the Berlin Technical University, for cofounding with industry an efficient technology transfer facility. A facility of this kind does not exist anywhere in the world for the whole range of thin film technologies.
How did the idea come about?
Schlatmann – In 2008 photovoltaics generated less than one per cent of the electricity in Germany. This amount is to grow up to ten per cent until 2020. Fifty years from now photovoltaics is to generate a large part of the electricity supply. For this to work costs and material requirements must be cut, and thin film photovoltaics is the ideal candidate. However there is still very little promotion at present for this new technology in Germany. And this is where PVcomB comes in: support from the industry, and research and training with industrial relevance.
PVcomB focuses on thin film technology?
Schlatmann – PVcomB concentrates on technologies that operate with thin films of glass, steel, or plastic foils and that target industrial applications over a large area. Some examples are amorphous or microcrystalline silicon, copper indium sulfide/diselenide (CIS), and perhaps later organic or polymer materials as well.
How does PVcomB work?
Schlatmann – We want to develop new PV technologies and products together with industry and accelerate the transfer of technology. To do so we run laboratory facilities with industrial relevance in their own building. The technology and know-how are transferred in the form of findings from bilateral and multilateral research projects and training for highly qualified specialists. We support industrial partners at the start of production and the further development of industrial processes, yet also the transfer and upscaling of basic research findings from the HZB and TU Berlin.
Why Adlershof?
Schlatmann – Berlin provides an excellent basis for thin film technology in the form of its research and training institutes. Even in Europe such a concentration of research competence is unique, and it converges here in Adlershof. A large part of the European thin film PV industry works in the city and the former GDR. This bundling of research, training, and production does not work at many locations. Transfer must take place where the companies are. It is therefore an initiative that is optimally situated in Adlershof, yet makes its presence felt beyond Adlershof and over the whole German and European PV industry.
PVcomB is applying for promotional funds.
Schlatmann – Investors abroad do not distinguish between Saxony and Brandenburg. Let us think of former East Germany as a location. And this we want to strength sustainably as a production site. As a sector we are competing with the USA, Japan, and China. It is important, also in promotion, to think on the right scale. With this initiative Germany is adopting a powerful position throughout Europe. A facility like ours needs a certain basic financing that cannot be fully retrieved through projects. Accordingly we have applied for promotional funds in the programme “Top research and innovation in the New Federal States” by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, when the State of Berlin will act as cofinancer if approved.
Dr. Rutger Schlatmann
Dr. Rutger Schlatmann, (42), is director of PVcomB – Competence Centre Thin-Film- and Nanotechnology for Photovoltaics Berlin. Before heading PVcomB, Schlatmann worked as Manager Research and Developement for Helianthos-BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dutch energy comany NV Nuon, that concentrates on the development of fl exible thin film Si solar cells. Helianthos originated in 1997 from the corporate research program within Dutch multinational Akzo Nobel where Schlatmann started his industrial career, Schlatman obtained his PhD in the field of multilayer X-ray optics in 1995.