Fast energy payback

REC is reducing the time it takes for a PV solar module to generate the energy that was used to create it and thus making the module a net provider of energy within a short time.

The generation of electricity from any  source requires energy. This energy consumption can occur directly as in firing a coal power plant or indirectly as in pumping oil from the bottom of the sea. The energy payback time defines how efficient the energy source is. Payback time can be reduced by increasing the efficiency of the system, improving the process used to create it - or both.

REC is making solar energy both cleaner and more cost-efficient, by reducing the energy payback time of its modules and materials. A lifecycle analysis, carried out in 2005 by Utrecht University and the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, showed that typical energy payback times of solar systems installed in Southern Europe ranged between 1.7 and 2.7 years. The analysis revealed that the energy payback time for REC solar systems with our crystalline silicon-based solar modules was lower than for any others that Utrecht University had examined.
 
We are proud of  this achievement, but we are going to take it even further with our innovations to make silicon production even more energy efficient. When our next-generation silicon plant at Moses Lake, Washington, USA, is fully functional, we expect the energy payback time of REC modules to drop even further, to less than 1 year.