John Marioni, U.S western regional sales director for Kuka Robotics
Corp., landed his first solar industry customer in late 2006.

“That was an awakening for me,” says Marioni. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is a cool customer, and I wonder if there are others out there.’ ” Sure enough, says Marioni, when he looked around, he discovered solar manufacturers “popping up left and right” within his multi-state western territory, and all were prime candidates for the improved productivity, flexibility and cost reduction that robotic automation can bring. Today, says Marioni, who is based in Bothell, Wash., “solar is definitely where the majority of my [sales] numbers come from.”

No one is predicting that robot sales to the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry could ever match those to the automotive industry. The car makers and their suppliers still account for more than half of all robotics industry orders, even despite the current economic downturn. But during the past couple of years, accelerating growth in the solar space has definitely grabbed the attention of robot vendors.

Last summer, for example, Adept Technology Inc., a Livermore, Calif., supplier of light-duty, vision-guided robotics, rolled out an integrated product line named Adept Solaris that is aimed specifically at the market for high-speed solar cell wafer handling and inspection. “If you look two or three years out, I would expect that a quarter to a third of our business will be in solar,” says John Dulchinos, Adept president and chief executive officer.

Looking up

Others are equally upbeat. “For robotics, the solar industry is definitely exciting. It represents a growth curve that we haven’t seen for quite a while outside of industries like medical or pharmaceutical,” observes Rush LaSelle, general manager for the West office of Fanuc Robotics America, in Lake Forest, Calif.

Opportunities for flexible robotic automation abound throughout the solar PV production process, the vendors say, from the handling of polysilicon ingots and bricks at the front end, through high-speed solar cell wafer handling tasks, to the large solar panel and module assembly applications at the back end. For many solar start-ups that are looking to develop their production processes, the robot vendors can contribute valuable process knowledge gained in other industries. “We have good experience in certain segments in the flat-panel manufacturing areas, such as TVs, for instance, and other applications where we’ve handled flat-panel-type product,” points out Dan Shumaker, market research manager for Motoman Inc., a West Carrolton, Ohio-based robot vendor.

As robot makers gear up to compete for the solar business, they are eyeing potential for very rapid growth. To be sure, the current economic downturn and tight credit environment is putting a strain on the solar industry today, and some solar manufacturers have recently announced layoffs. Despite continuing growth in installation of solar panels, supply has lately been outstripping demand, say industry watchers, which is putting downward pressure on pricing. But the long-term outlook for solar manufacturing appears bright, most agree. World solar photovoltaic market installations reached a record high of more than 2.8 gigawatts in 2007, up by 62 percent over 2006, according to Solarbuzz LLC, a San Francisco-based solar energy research and consulting firm. And some industry watchers see that number soaring to 10 to 15 gigawatts by 2012.

The goal is “grid parity,” the point at which solar photovoltaic electricity produced without subsidies is equal to or cheaper than electricity produced by other means. That point is still several years away, say industry experts. Former President George W. Bush set 2015 as the date for grid parity in the United States, though other countries are targeting earlier dates. But the lack of grid parity today is not slowing the rush toward solar technology development and production.

“In the long term, it’s very clear that solar is something that will achieve grid parity with other energy sources, and once that happens, things will really take off,” says Kevin Steele, industry segment manager, semiconductor and solar, for automation vendor Bosch Rexroth Corp., in Pleasanton, Calif. “So at this point, you’re looking at an enormous number of investors going into this market, and a large number of players who are trying, as quickly as possible, to gain market share,” Steele says.

That is fueling a strong market for automation, as solar manufacturers strive to bring down costs and achieve economy of scale, and to prove that their particular flavor of solar technology is a better solution than that of the next supplier. “A lot of these solar companies already have a couple of ...