Status and Outlook on the Photovoltaic Solar Industry Based on Solar Cell R&D
by Bolko von Roedern
Sunday, October 10, 2010 | Las Vegas, NV
1830-1930h, Grande D, 1st Floor
Bolko von Roedern is a Senior Project Leader at the National Center for Photovoltaics at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Dr. von Roedern received his physics diploma (Dipl. Phys.) from Clausthal Technical University, Germany, in 1975. He received his PhD in physics (Dr. Rer. Nat.) from Stuttgart University, Germany, and did research at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart (1979).
Dr. von Roedern moved to Colorado in 1983 when he was hired by NREL (then SERI), after working on a SERI subcontract as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. As a senior scientist, he developed amorphous-silicon-based (a-Si) solar cells within SERI’s in-house amorphous silicon group. In 1985, he joined a start-up company, Glasstech Solar, Inc. (GSI) in Wheat Ridge, CO, managing all aspects of the technology developments as well as the day-to-day operations. GSI developed a turnkey a-Si photovoltaic module manufacturing line. GSI was formed by the same investors that founded the precursor to First Solar, Solar Cells Incorporated (SCI).
In 1990, he returned to SERI as a Project Manager in the Amorphous Silicon Research Project. This project was merged into the Thin Film Partnership Project, and since 1992, he has been part of a three-person team responsible for supporting, through subcontracts, amorphous and crystalline Si, cadmium telluride, and copper indium diselenide thin-film photovoltaic R&D and technology. Together with his colleagues, he was among the finalists of the 1999 World Technology Award for Energy, the Thin Film Partnership; and in collaboration with NREL subcontractors has also won several awards and recognitions (RD100, etc.).
From 1992 to 2006, he was involved in national R&D teams supporting the work of the Thin Film Partnership, and from 1996 to 2006, he managed the a-Si national team. Since 2007, he has been the technical monitor for some major Technology Pathway Partnership programs financed through DOE (Golden Office), as well as managing some NREL PV incubator subcontracts. Scientifically, he pursues an evaluation of how material quality will affect solar cell performance, and he is intimately familiar with many techniques used to evaluate semiconductor properties of bulk and thin film semiconductor materials and devices. Since 2008, he has also been involved as the photovoltaic liaison for the Solar Advisory Model (SAM).
Bolko von Roedern is a Senior Project Leader at the National Center for Photovoltaics at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Dr. von Roedern received his physics diploma (Dipl. Phys.) from Clausthal Technical University, Germany, in 1975. He received his PhD in physics (Dr. Rer. Nat.) from Stuttgart University, Germany, and did research at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart (1979).