By ramping up production capacity while driving down unit cost through new mass-production technologies and strategies, solar power is poised to reach a much wider market.
KUKA Systems’ goal is to pioneer automated manufacturing solutions, including robotized cells and integrated production lines that can be adapted to any type of solar-cell technology, so that a labour-intensive industry with niche appeal can take a much larger place in the broader electricity marketplace.
{pagebreak}
Solar power (photovoltaics/PV) is about to fulfil its promise as the most viable commercial energy source. As capture efficiency improves and installation costs decline, every house, office and institution worldwide will have the opportunity to be energy self-sufficient with a much faster payback on investment than the industry has been able to offer to date. Germany has the world’s largest and fastest growing PV market, gaining a further 1.5 GW of PV capacity in 2007. Now, German-based international supplier KUKA S-Tec, a business unit of KUKA Systems GmbH, plans to become a key enabler in driving the proliferation of solar power.
