You won't be able to see through their modules, but a new German solar startup is the latest to announce plans to sandwich glass in several layers of thin film technology, using forthcoming equipment from Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT).

Good Energies, based in Amsterdam, and NorSun of Norway have banded together to establish Sunfilm AG in Germany, which is to start making ultra-large tandem thin film photovoltaic (PV) modules on glass substrates beginning late next year.

At 5.7 m², the panels themselves would be four times the size of today's conventional PV modules.

“Sunfilm opens new frontiers; it goes beyond what today’s industry is projecting—in size and in performance—and could change the way solar energy is viewed,” said Dr. Sven Hansen, Good Energies’ Chief Investment Officer.

The company is to produce its panels on a new generation of equipment from Applied, which is to feature new tandem cell technology, a dual-junction approach that combines an amorphous silicon top film to absorb short wavelengths of light with a microcrystalline silicon bottom layer to absorb longer wavelengths.

The tandem cells are expected to deliver higher energy conversion efficiencies at a cost per watt comparable to single junction technologies. By coupling tandem technology with big substrates, Sunfilm and other companies lining up to buy the technology hope to substantially reduce their costs.

“We need to stay focused on bringing the cost down. Our venture aims at grid parity,” said Sunfilm's Hansen.

While high efficiency, inexpensive PV panels sound promising, Sunfilm's success will hinge on whether its science works as planned in volume production. It will be some time before it'll find out, as Applied Materials is still a year away from delivering its manufacturing equipment.

“We have a contractual agreement to provide a complete production line for producing these panels,” said Pat Lamey, a senior director in Applied’s New Business and New Products Group. That Sunfilm contract, Applied acknowledged to Cleantech.com, calls for a second quarter 2008 delivery.

Applied's Lamey was confident the company will be able to deliver the hardware Sunfilm and others are relying on, pointing to the company's extensive manufacturing experience in similar film sandwich techniques.

“We're very strong in the flat panel display business, depositing either dielectric, or semiconductor films, or conductor films. We're already running machines that run these huge plates and are very comfortable in this space.”

Sunfilm’s contract with Applied is for a fully-integrated equipment line for an ultra-large panel tandem module factory with a nominal rated capacity of 60 megawatts per year, approximately three times the capacity of other thin film solar facilities.

In the last few weeks, Applied has announced thin film-on-glass manufacturing line supply contracts with Moser Baer of India and T-Solar of Spain. And the company told Cleantech.com there would soon be more announced.

Sunfilm is to start construction in the next few months on its factory in Grossröhrsdorf in Germany's Saxony region. It's receiving grants from the state, and expects to employ about 180 people when the line is fully operational in late 2008 or 2009.