Joseph S. Sentendrey
North American Sales Manager, Pressure Senstitive Adhesives
Toyo Ink America, LLC

Pressure Sensitive Tape Materials and Technologies Utilized by the Thin-Film, Crystalline Silicon, and Roll-to-Roll (R2R)
Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Module Manufacturers

Renewable energies such as Photovoltaic’s (PV) do not produce green house gases, specifically carbon dioxide, and thus are known to have a positive effect on the climatic balance. Photovoltaics are simply semi-conductive devices which will produce electricity when exposed to light. In fact, the word “photovoltaic” means electricity from light.

The manufacturing of solar cells and photovoltaic grids has expanded dramatically in recent years. Photovoltaic production has been nearly doubling every two years ? increasing by 30-45% each year since 2002 ? making it one of the fastest growing energy technologies. Market information will be provided which depicts the outstanding growth as well as the trends occurring within the various technology types. With the global market for global cell production forecasted to reach 35GW in 2015, the thin film fraction is expected to grow from approximately 15% today, to 40% sometime in the 2017-2018 periods. In addition, the USA cell and module manufacturing is expected to grow at 50% through 2012. Discussion and information is provided which compares the technology areas, within thin film USA production, which represents the majority of the domestic manufacturing.