“Hello, my name is Andreas Waltinger. I work since almost 16 years in the field of photovoltaics. After my study in Electronics for automotive I joined Roth & Rau in 2008 as a metallization process engineer. Meanwhile I work at Meyer Burger as team leader in solar cell process development. In the PILATUS project I lead Work package 2 and have the role as a technical coordinator.”
What was your original motivation to become a researcher/project manager?
“I was deeply involved in the industrialization of heterojunction solar devices. It was a great journey, especially when you see the final result … from first steps in lab to a real 24/7-Gigawatt production. In PILATUS we are going on a new challenging journey with even more challenging technology, so called tunnel- IBC-SHJ solar cells.”
What is your (main) research area today?
“As a team leader I do not work operative that much but I have to coordinate the research of my team and feel the responsibility providing best frame conditions for great performances.”
What is the main focus of your team in PILATUS?
“Our main focus is the transfer from lab to fab. This means at the end of day bringing a specified laboratory based overall process to industrial equipment. Besides keeping cell efficiency as in the proven lab process, we work hard on homogeneity and throughput topics process-wise but we have also to develop new dedicated equipment.”
From all your activities within the project, what are you the most proud of/keen to share with the public?
“Typically almost all industrial equipment used in PV came originally from other industries, e.g. semiconductor & automotive. In PILATUS we develop novel industrial equipment which is really dedicated for PV and needs new processes. This is very exciting.”
How do you expect the PILATUS results will impact your organisation and the PV sector in Europe?
“A working IBC-SHJ pilot line brings us back in a promising competitive situation against the low budget modules from China. That’s why we implemented in PILATUS a bankability work package where we scan regularly the market as a benchmark.”
This project has received funding from the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme under grant number 101084046. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
