Solar cells from Royal Dutch Shell

With advanced automation and a planned output per production line of over 1000 cells per hour, the recently opened Royal Dutch Shell Group’s new world-scale solar cell factory in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, close to the Dutch/German border sets new standards for the production of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells. The continuing acceleration of production and sales worldwide of solar cells is reducing the cost of solar-cell produced electricity by 6% annually, which must be good news for consumers.INTRODUCTIONThe Royal Dutch Shell Group’s interest in the solar electricity (also called photovoltaic) industry began in the early 1970s. The business grew with the establishment of Showa Solar KK in Japan and Shell Solar Energy BV. Until the opening of the Gelsenkirchen factory, Shell Solar Energy BV in the south-eastern Netherlands was the centre of the company’s cell and module production.