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According to Polyera, the Newport Corporation’s PV cell lab has confirmed that Polyera’s polymer/fullerene OPV cell has achieved a 9.1% power conversion efficiency with an inverted bulk heterojunction architecture using ActivInk PV 2000 semiconductor material. The company said its active layer materials are able to be deposited using a wider range of film thickness without lower cell efficiency, which is said to improve yields and simplify manufacturing.
Following the establishment of MidAmerican Renewables in mid-January, it has been announced former Phoenix Solar CEO Paul Caudill has assisted with the acquisition of the Topaz solar farm from First Solar. The 550MW PV power plant is being built in San Luis Obispo County, California and will have the capacity to generate enough renewable energy to power approximately 160,000 average California homes.
A debt-to-equity swap deal between Q-Cells and its bondholders has been agreed in principle, a situation that will result in the company’s being majority owned (95%) by the bondholders. In return, Q-Cells would be virtually debt-free and retain the €304 million of liquidity the company had at the end of 2011 to continue to restructure and continue operations. Q-Cells will also sell further non-core assets that could raise €200 million, which would be given back to the 2012, 2014 and 2015 bondholders on an equal basis.
Instituto de Energía Solar at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid has certified that Semprius’ HCPV modules have set a new world record with an efficiency level of 33.9%. The module was tested indoors at Standard Test Conditions (850 W/m2, 25°C cell temperature, and a spectrum matched to AM1.5D) and corroborated by outdoor measurements made at the Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC) in Puertollano, Spain. The HCPV modules significantly exceed the previous claim of 32.0%.
Nanotechnology-based thin-film materials specialist, Cambrios Technologies has received a US$5 million, Series D-3 financing round from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation as part of a prelude to further business collaborations on coating materials, which could include transparent electrodes for touch screens, liquid crystal displays, e-paper, OLED devices, OLED lighting and thin film photovoltaics.
Clean-tech developer, Eight19, has announced the launch of a £5 million Series B funding round. The funding will be used for further development of the company’s low cost printed plastic solar film and for accelerating the deployment of Eight19’s IndiGo pay as you go solar power products. The Carbon Trust Rhodia SA gave the company £4.5 million in September 2010 and expects the new round will be taken up by a combination of existing and new investors.
Conergy France collaborated with Soligest to complete three rooftop solar establishments, with a total power rating of 6.1MW. More than 80,000 thin-film modules have been installed on 67,000 square metres of roof surface. Conergy was responsible for both the design and technical planning of the installation.
AQT Solar advised that using a low cost and production friendly sputter deposited copper-zinc-tin-sulfide (CZTS) thin-film solar cell, it had achieved high efficiencies. The company noted that the same manufacturing-ready processes and platforms used for its CIGS 2.0 solar cells was dually acceptable for CZTS and dubbed the term CIGS 3.0 for its future CZTS products.
It appears Soltecture’s efforts last year to rebrand have been rewarded. The company has partnered with New York-based, altPOWER, to develop BIPV projects in the US. Solecture will be offering its thin-film modules having produced the first 100MW modules last year.
With any emerging technology it is to be expected that there will be both winners and losers. According to a new report from Lux Research, few of the CIGS (copper indium gallium diselenide) thin-film manufacturers stand out, while others will find partners or wither away. According to the market research firm, 2011 was a breakout year for CIGS module shipments and installations, generating 1.2GW of demand. Lux is forecasting the CIGS market to reach 2.3GW in 2015, generating US$2.35 billion in revenue.
