Global Warming is a devastating issue we cannot afford to ignore. According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the average Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the last century. This seemingly insignificant increase in the average temperature can in fact have deadly impact on our globe. Studies have shown that increasing global temperature will cause sea levels to rise and will change the amount and pattern of precipitation, which may lead to the expansion of subtropical deserts. Some of the other environmental impacts include:

• Continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice, especially in the Arctic region
• Shrinkage of both the Amazon rainforest and Boreal forests
• Increases in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events such as floods and typhoons
• Heat waves
• Drastic changes of agricultural yields
• Extinction of various species extinctions
• Millions of life affected as the result of these natural disasters

Global warming is one of today's greatest threats to mankind.

Endorsed by more than 40 scientific societies, the IPCC further concludes that global warming is, for the most part, contributed by the immense accumulation of greenhouse gases emitted by humans, namely carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gases are usually released as the byproducts during industrial processing and power generation through burning coal, gasoline and oil.

As one of the best forms of renewable energy sources, JA Solar believes that solar energy is the perfect solution to help alleviate global warming. Every day, the sun shines on earth and emits more than enough energy for everyone. Through photovoltaic technology, we can effectively convert this light energy from the sun into electricity and put into our daily use. Most importantly, solar energy is free of CO₂ and essentially inexhaustible.

There are so many other alternative energies out there, so why Solar?

Key Advantages over other Alternative Energy Technologies:

• Solar products are fully commercialized
• Solar is a renewable, clean energy source
• Solar is reliable and maintenance free
• Solar does not require new or complex infrastructure
• Solar is a distributed form of energy generation
• Solar power generation coincides with peak energy demand
• Solar energy is attracting fund investing
• Solar manufacturing supply is well defined
• Solar shares a process improvement road map with the IC industry

The first solar cell was created in 1883, but was only capable of turning one to two percent of sunlight into electricity. The breakthrough in solar cell technology came in 1954 when researchers at Bell Laboratories stumbled across the photovoltaic properties of silicon while experimenting with new transistor technologies. Three years later, PV research began to develop an independent solar energy source for space technologies. Thanks to continuing research, modern commercial PV cells have improved efficiency to as high as nearly 19 percent. Historically PV cells have been used extensively in areas that are not served by a power grid. As PV prices have dropped and grid energy has become more expensive, PV systems are increasingly used in grid-tied applications.

A solar cell is a device made of semiconductor materials (such as silicon) that converts the energy in sunlight into electricity. Solar cells are manufactured with a built-in electric field, so when sunlight strikes the cell, a portion of the light is absorbed by the semiconductor materials. The solar energy knocks electrons loose from their atoms, allowing electrons to flow freely. The built-in electric field forces electrons freed by light absorption to flow in a certain direction. This flow of electron generates electricity, which can be drawn off to power various objects. The conversion of sunlight (photons) to electricity (voltage) is called the photovoltaic effect.

In a PV system, these semiconductors are produced in the form of cells, which are then assembled in a structural panel. There are many different types of panels available, and each has its particular advantages. Depending on the amount of electricity needed, these panels can then be connected in an array of any size to provide the electricity needed for a home, office, or larger facility.

Solar cells are usually small and only produce a couple of watts of power. To produce usable energy, many cells are strung together to make a module. Multiple modules are connected into an array, which are connected to a load (like a light bulb). Through the wiring the electrons have a chance to flow through the whole loop back to the layer that lost its electrons in the first place.

The electric current, as this flow is called, has done its work, making light and heat in the light bulb.

Polysilicon

The productions of most PV modules start with manufacturing ultra-pure raw polysilicon, which is essentially the same material used to manufacture integrated circuits (ICs) such as computer or memory chips. It is done through several melting and washing steps of quartz sand.

Wafer

The liquid silicon is cast in blocks, which is also known as ingots. These ingots are then cut into thin discs, or wafers.

There four major commercial wafer manufacturing techniques:

• Mono-crystalline Wafers
• Multi-crystalline Cells
• Polycrystalline String Ribbon
• Amorphous Cells

Cell

A PV cell consists of two thin layers of semi-conducting silicon. Each layer is "doped," or infused with a small amount of another material that prevents all the electrons from being locked in the pure silicon lattice structure.

One layer is doped (usually with phosphorus) so that it has slightly too many electrons, and the other layer is doped (usually with boron) so that it has slightly too few electrons. This difference produces a small electric field between the two layers, which gives the electrons a direction to flow when they get knocked out of place by a photon (packet of light energy).

JA Solar buys mono-crystalline wafers and multi-crystalline cells and processes them into solar cells.

There are three major steps in making cells from wafers:

• Doping – create a built-in electric field via gas diffusion, heat diffusion, or spray diffusion of phosphorus
• Anti-reflective coating – apply a layer of silicon nitride (SiN) which offers both anti-reflective properties and surface passivation. This passivation acts act as recombination centers in the material by saturating the dangling bonds.
• Metallization – A grid-like metal contact made up of fine "fingers" is screen-printed onto the front surface and the metal contact is made on the back surface.

JA Solar sells the finished cells to solar module manufacturers.

Solar energy is the perfect alternative energy solution. Not only is it renewable and clean, but it is also reliable and essentially inexhaustible. More importantly, solar products are fully commercialized with many firms around the world competing in the industry. Furthermore, as more governments around the globe offer subsidies, the global demand of solar power has been enjoying tremendous growth in the past years. A faster growing pace in the coming years has been predicted by lots of experts in this industry.

PV cells and panels can be manufactured and installed at almost any scale. As a result, they are used to power a broad variety of things. At its smallest, PV can power calculators, laptop computers, and other appliances. At its largest, it can power homes, offices, and other buildings that use large amounts of electricity. PV cells can also be connected from these buildings to provide power to the electric grid, increasing the diversity of our collective electricity sources.

To continue the effort in bettering the environment as well as offering affordable solar energy to the public, JA Solar is dedicated to providing its customers with cost efficient and high conversion rate solar cells.