The Amonix system is projected to be approximately 40% - 50% lower in cost than any other photovoltaic system currently available. The average installed cost of conventional one-sun flat plate solar technologies is $7.42/W with a range of $6 - $8/W. This installed cost is achieved at an industry capacity of 1.5GW. Amonix can achieve an extremely competitive in-house cost, relative to flat-plate technology, at a mere 10 MW production capacity. This cost differential is achieved through many competitive advantages

• Less silicon material used
• More power produced
• Higher Efficiencies
• Less Land Required
• Low capital Investment
• Minimal water required
• Quick and Easy Installation

Amonix attacked the fundamental cost “culprit” of the PV system: the silicon solar cell. Most advanced approaches to reducing cell material content involve minimizing the thickness of the cells themselves such as using very thin films (like “paints”) of material or slicing solar cell wafers very thin. Amonix pursued an alternative approach that calls for reducing cell area. This is the high-concentration concept. HCPV systems offer significant cost savings by using inexpensive flat, plastic Fresnel lenses as an intermediary between the sun and the cell. (See Figure 3) These lenses focus and concentrate sunlight approximately 500 times onto a small, high-efficiency cell, reducing the required cell area by a similar ratio. This, in turn, reduces the amount of costly cell material needed to generate electricity significantly lowering overall system costs. (See Figure 4) This reduction in silicon use also protects Amonix from the impending silicon shortage faced by many of the one-sun manufacturers.

The proprietary HCPV system developed by Amonix uses a novel concept that “integrates” the tracking structure, lens, and solar cell/receiver plate into a single unit, eliminating 75% of the parts and cost of previous concentrating designs.

More power per installed kW than one-sun flat plate installation is achieved due to this integrated dual axis tracking and the high efficiency solar cells used. Amonix’s HCPV system inherently tracks the sun capturing up to 30% more energy than fixed photovoltaic systems in areas of high direct solar radiation. Figure 5 shows a comparison between Amonix’s system and a one-sun system of the energy produced over one day clearly showing the advantage of the Amonix system.

Higher Efficiencies
Concentrating PV cells achieve higher efficiencies than do non-concentration PV cells. Flat plate silicon cells have efficiencies in the range of 8 % to 15 % while the Amonix concentrating silicon cell has an efficiency of 26 %. Concentrating multijunction cells are still in the development stage but have achieved efficiency greater than 34%.

Less Land Required
The Amonix system requires very little land when compared to one-sun photovoltaics and most wind installations (Wind requires 17 to 40 acres per MW). Amonix systems require approximately 10 acres per Mega Watt of installed capacity, a 20% area savings over most other flat-plate photovoltaic technologies and at least 40% area savings over wind technologies.

Low Capital Investment
The foundry-based solar cell manufacturing that Amonix relies upon is rapidly scaleable and leverages billions of dollars that have already been invested by the microelectronics industry. As a result, Amonix’s proprietary technology can go into volume production quicker and with lower capital requirements than any other solar-electric technology. Using existing commercial foundries for cell production, where costs are well known and disciplined, also enables Amonix to credibly predict manufacturing costs for high volumes.

Minimal water required
Water requirements vary according to required cleaning cycles; however, they are estimated at 0.03 gallons per kilowatt-hour of generation. This is 15-20 times less water per unit of electricity produced than is required for traditional fossil-fueled or nuclear generation.

Quick and Easy Installation

HCPV systems can be installed, connected, and generating power within days of arriving on-site, a significant advantage over other renewable technologies in energy-strapped regions Megamodules can be mounted an operational in one day.