With an efficiency gain of nearly 1% in just six months, SoloPower has had certified a new, wider flexible CIGS module that is capable of producing up to 260Wp and has 12.1% aperture efficiency, as measured by NREL. The SFX3 module is claimed to be the most powerful flexible CIGS module currently in production. SoloPower says it has the first and only flexible CIGS products certified to both UL 1703 and IEC (61646 and 61730) standards.
DuPont Apollo, a subsidiary of DuPont, and China Everbright International have put the finishing touches on a 1.3MW rooftop PV installation at DuPont Apollo’s Shenzhen, China, production facility. The two companies assert that this is the largest single structure thin-film PV rooftop installation in China.
Unidym, a subsidiary of Arrowhead Research, and Samsung Electronics have joined forces for an IP cooperation and license agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Unidym licenses Samsung patents for CNT materials, including fundamental patents on CNT compositions of matter, synthesis of CNTs, processing CNTs, ink formulations, and transparent conductive films.
Suss MicroTec and Rolith have come together to use Rolith’s disruptive nanolithography method in order to develop and construct nanostructuring equipment. Rolith’s nanolithography technology uses near-field optical lithography with cylindrically shaped rolling masks. Sub-wavelength resolution is reached by a phase-interference effect or plasmonic enhancement printing structures. Rolith advises that a continued operation yields a high throughput with low cost production.
A single-junction organic photovoltaic solar cell with a surface area of 1 square centimetre has been demonstrated by Konarka Technologies to have a 8.3% efficiency.
Boeing's Spectrolab subsidiary said it has begun volume production of its newest terrestrial triple-junction III-V-based solar cell, the C3MJ+. The device has an average conversion efficiency of 39.2%, which the company claims makes it the most-efficient cell on the market.
Southern California Edison has signed 20 contracts with six different independent power producer firms for nearly 240MW (AC) of solar photovoltaic systems to be deployed close to major transmission lines in various parts of the utility’s service areas in Southern California.
