Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir’s trip to the US about a year ago is seeing fruition with Super efficient solar cell developer, Twin Creeks Technologies Inc. (TCTI) of San Jose, California, imminently transferring its patented technologies to Perak.
More efficient in using raw materials than other solar cells in the market, the Twin Creeks panels to be manufactured at the new Perak High Tech Park, Kanthan near Ipoh, could still generate energy comparable to a competitor’s product of the same size.
According to Twin Creeks Malaysia Sdn Bhd chairman, Datuk Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff, this is possible through patented processes developed by TCTI.
“TCTI has developed a revolutionary process that reduces the main raw material; silicon; content of the solar cell by almost 97 per cent while retaining all other characteristics.
“This technique and its innovative machines and processes are proprietary and protected by multiple international patents.
“The rest of the processing uses conventional solar cell manufacturing equipment as applied by major solar cell producers.” Rais Hussin told reporters at a special media briefing held at his office in Ipoh today.
The main advantage derived from the innovative processes is the lower amount of silicon needed to manufacture the solar cells.
Raw silicon forms up to 75 per cent of the cost of manufacturing solar cells and it takes approximately 8.5 tons of poly-crystalline silicon to produce 1MW of solar cells. Additionally, silicon is extremely power-intensive and capital-intensive material to produce.
On top of that, the price of raw silicon is extremely volatile.
The facility near Ipoh is different from all other solar manufacturing plants that are operational or being set up in Malaysia by its commercial strategy that places its main focus on domestic consumption.
Red Solar Sdn Bhd, a partner of TCTI in Twin Creeks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, will undertake projects that comply with the guidelines of Malaysia’s Small Renewable Energy Program (SREP) in partnership with the state of Perak, as well as operate solar power projects within the state and elsewhere in the country.
