Theme 1: How to thrive and flourish in the thin-film market evolution

09:00 - 10:30  Giving it to you straight: Thin-film market facts and realistic predictions for 2010

The PV industry is oversupplied and with silicon and module prices continuing to fall, it may seem like a tough time to be a thin-film manufacturer. That's why now more than ever you need an honest analysis of the thin-film market and what choices you can make to strengthen your margins

• Cut through the various analysts predictions and get a realistic picture of what the thin-film market can expect in the next 12 to 18 months
• Analyze how the market leaders are dealing with falling silicon prices and take away best practice examples that you can apply to your business
• Take lessons learned from the renewable energy industry as a whole that can be applied to the future of thin-film
• Discover where the most promising opportunities lie for your thin-film business - the applications and regional markets that stand the best chance for success and what you can do to jump on these opportunities

United Solar Ovonic, Subhendu Guha, Chairman

Ersol Thin Film, Christian Koitzsch, MD

Ascent Solar, Joe Armstrong, CTO
PrimeStar Solar, Brian Murphy, CEO

Navigant Consulting, Paula Mints, Principal Analyst PV Services Program

10:30 - 11:00  The strategies you need to give you the edge in today's highly competitive thin-film market

• Find out what you can do to compete on cost, even if you use the same turnkey production line as your competitors
• Stick out from the crowd - Discover what to focus on that has real appeal to your customers and can deliver a real spark to your sales figures
• Cut out the middle man - Hear top tips from companies who have successfully expanded their business by selling directly to the end-user
• Expanding up and downstream - How you can benefit from getting involved with installation and developing close relationships with your suppliers

Oerlikon, Christopher O' Brien, Head of Market Development, North America

11:30 - 12:15  Crucial thin-film materials update

• Benefit from a comprehensive update on the current cost of all the various materials used to build thin-film cells
• Tellurium and indium - Are we or aren't we going to run out of supply?
• Getting your materials for less - Hear about the latest and most effective methods that will help lower this significant portion of your thin-film manufacturing costs

Techcet Group, Lita Shon-Roy, Chief Editor & Senior Managing Director

Linde Electronics , Anish Tolia, Head of Market Development, Americas

12:15 - 12:35  Winning the Thin-film Vs Crystalline battle

• Thin-film strengths - learn the most compelling arguments that will convince your investors and customers to choose thin-film over crystalline
• How low can silicon go? Hear expert opinion on how far silicon prices will fall and what you can do to prepare for the impact
• More than just cost - discover how you can capitalize on certain niche applications and other circumstances where thin-film has a major advantage over crystalline technologies

Navigant Consulting, Paula Mints, Principal Analyst PV Services Program

Theme 2: Technology and innovations that will cut thin-film costs

13:50 - 15:20  Thin-film technology breakthroughs

Get an update on the very latest thin-film efficiency improvements and what more developments you can expect in the next 12-18 months that will increase thin-film viability

• Roll to roll manufacturing - discover how much it can cut costs and what technological implications it will have to your manufacturing process
• Hear about alternative encapsulation techniques that can side-step the difficulties with thin-film flexible substrates
• Discover the full potential of ink technology that can produce high   uniformity for your solar cells
• Benefit from an in-depth look at the latest in cell and module innovation, capture technologies, anti-reflective solutions and more

NREL, Harin Ullal, National Centre for Photovoltaics
Kaneka, Koshiro Kawaguchi, Marketing Manager

SoloPower, Mustafa Pinarbasi, VP of Technology
XsunX, Robert Wendt, VP of Engineering

15:50 - 16:50  Cutting thin-film costs - how to get the last digit out of your yield

Get the complete picture of cost cutting techniques from front end specialist Applied Materials, back end specialist Komax and thin-film manufacturer Moser Baer.

• Kill your bad cells - how integrating monolithically can ensure uniformity across your production line
• Scaling up cost analysis- discover how much you can really expect to save in materials and equipment costs by scaling up your project
• Analyse the pros and cons of different processes and techniques

Applied Materials, Christopher Beitel, MD

Komax Solar, Stefan Kaufmann, Head PM & Technology

Moser Baer, Rajeewa Arya, CEO

Theme 3: Thin Film Finance and Legislation

09:00 - 10:15   Everything you need to know to secure investment for your thin-film business

• Private funding:
  • Make your bank visit painless - find out exactly what your bank needs to hear to secure your loan including who backs up your warranty and how liquid the warranty will need to be
  • Equity investor checklist - understand everything they want to hear and how to meet their expectations
  • Get tips and insights from the CEO of Xunlight, who have successfully raised more than $40m of investment
• Public funding:
  • DOE Loan Guarantee program - get your up-to-the-minute overview of the very latest developments and see which projects are likely to qualify and why they will do so
  • Hear the requirements for securing funding through the renewable energy stimulus package - what you need to do to apply and how much the thin-film industry can expect to receive
  • Painless Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) - see in advance the pitfalls that many companies run into when seeking PPAs

US Department of Energy, John Bartlett, Financial Analyst, Solar Energy Technologies Program
Barclays Capital, Vishal Shah, Senior Analyst, Renewable Energy Solar

Xunlight, Xunming Deng, CEO

Jane Capital Partners, Neal Dikeman, Partner

10:45 - 11:30  Direct from the DOE - your questions answered on the upcoming legislation that will affect the thin-film industry

Chadbourne & Parke LLP raises the questions you want answered, leaving no stone unturned and shedding light on exactly how future legislation will affect your business.

• Policies in the pipeline - find out in-depth information on what new legislation is on the horizon that matters to thin-film
• Make sure your company is ready to act decisively to upcoming legislation. Hear how to prepare for these changes and know how they will impact on your business

US Department of Energy, John Bartlett, Financial Analyst, Solar Energy Technologies Program
Chadbourne & Parke LLP, Kenneth Hansen, Partner

Theme 4: Increasing Thin Film Manufacturing Efficiency

11:30 - 12:30  The power and potential of CdTe

CdTe holds the lead in thin-film. Get an update on the latest developments on this efficient technology, see what the future holds and what you can do to maximize CdTe's potential

• Take a look at what's holding you back from scaling up to big-time benchmark of 1GW and what you can do to meet and beat these technical challenges
• Understand the flexible manufacturing methods that are the true strength of CdTe and how you can leverage this to your advantage

First Solar, Benny Buller, Director of Device Improvement

Primestar Solar, Brian Murphy, CEO
Abound Solar, Russ Kanjorski, VP of Marketing

13:45 - 14:30  Amorphous-Silicon - Keeping the price low and staying competitive

• Evaluate the effectiveness of tandem junction technology as it achieves factory acceptance and promises efficiency improvements of up to 8%
• Hear first hand what innovations are coming from a-Si that will allow it to continue competing against CdTe and CIGS
• Ascertain how important panel size is when it comes to costs and efficiencies

Xunlight, Xunming Deng, CEO
Signet Solar, Rajeeva Lahri, CEO

14:30 - 15:15  Improve operational efficiency and commercialize your CIGS line

• Understand the challenges CIGS manufacturers face and how to beat them - right from certifying CIGS plate modules to shipping off their first batch
• Get an insight into how to scale up without compromising the composition and microstructure that are vital to CIGS performance
• How you can utilize standardized equipment interfaces that will increase yield and product quality

Ascent Solar, Joe Armstrong, CTO

Centrotherm, Sohaila Setayesh, Sales Director

Theme 5: Scaling up thin-film manufacturing and installation

15:45 - 17:00  Think big: your roadmap to get from MW to GW

If you don’t want to miss the market window, it’s important to work towards mass production now

• Hear real-life lessons from those that are making the jump and take away top tips you can apply to your plant and be on your way to becoming the next GW produce

• From development to production – Hear about ways to effectively scale up your manufacturing facilities with the least disruption and maximum cost benefit
• Get an expert view to help you understand some of the challenges of scaling thin film technologies
• Thin-film leaders strategies - take away best practice examples that you can apply to your own business and ramp up your production

First Solar, Benny Buller, Director of Device Improvement

Signet Solar, Rajeeva Lahri, CEO
United Solar Ovonic, Subhendu Guha, Senior VP , ECD & Chairman

Air Products, David Tavianini, PV Global Marketing Manager

(Day 1, 16:50 - 17:20) Real life thin-film field installation data

Investors favor crystalline PV since there isn’t a lot of field data or predictive models on thin-film performance. Based on thin-film performance data that has been gathered from the past 15 years, discover:

• What results thin-film modules are getting and whether they are meeting or exceeding project expectations
• Insightful data on yield potential and losses of an actual thin-film PV system and how this feeds into the site performance assessment and evaluation
• Whether predictive model performance is up to scratch and whether the results provide an accurate assessment of thin-film

SCHOTT Solar, Tom Hecht, VP Marketing and Sales US

17:00 - 17:30  Capital cost ($/Wp) vs Levelized Cost Of Electricity (LCOE) ($/kWh)

• Understand why LCOE should be the metric of merit for evaluating thin-film technologies
• Understand the strategic thinking behind utilities’ purchasing decision and find out exactly what you can do to make sure you fit in seamlessly with what the market needs
• Make sure your project is ready for utility buy-in as soon as possible - your path to maximizing your ROI immediately

Lux Research, Ted Sullivan, Senior Analyst