Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

Eyelit has landed another customer for its solar PV manufacturing software--flexible CIGS thin-film module maker Ascent Solar. The PV company is using the suite to support the production ramp of its 30MW Fab 2 in Thornton, CO, which is slated to go live the end of March.

The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has validated conversion efficiencies of 14.1% for flexible copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide (CIGS) solar-cell materials produced on Ascent Solar’s 1.5MW commercial pilot line in Littleton, CO. The company’s internal testing shows active-area peak efficiencies for its full-size monolithically integrated CIGS-on-polyimide modules reaching 11.7%, with median efficiencies on the line averaging between 10.5 and 11%-plus, according to president/CEO Farhad Moghadam.

Ascent Solar Technologies said that it has successfully completed internal qualification of a packaging solution for its flexible monolithically integrated copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic modules. The company's flexible encapsulation solution passed the guideline of 1000 hours of damp-heat testing (85% relative humidity and 85°C temperature) set forth by IEC 61646 standards for performance and long-term reliability of thin-film solar modules.

Thin-film PV developer Ascent Solar Technologies has named former Applied Materials executive Farhad Moghadam as the company's new president and CEO, effective August 3. The announcement culminates a nine-month executive search conducted by the flexible CIGS module company.

Independently verified by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Ascent Solar says that its copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide (CIGS) monolithically integrated 429cm² sized thin-film modules have reached 10% conversion efficiencies. NREL had also witnessed module efficiencies of 10.4%, all produced from Ascent’s 1.5MW production line in Colorado.

Ascent Solar's flexible CIGS thin-film photovoltaic modules will be designed into a hybrid unmanned aerial vehicle (H-UAV) called the Silent Sentinel, developed by Bye Aerospace.  The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in April and have now agreed to proceed with the joint effort.