The Lowell, Mass.-based company Konarka declared that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has certified Konarka's plastic solar cells have achievement of an efficiency of 8.3 percent, the highest that NREL has recorded for organic photovoltaic cells.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development.
Founded in 2001, Konarka has made flexible solar cells using plastic in a roll-to-roll manufacturing process. It is one of a handful of companies pursuing organic photovoltaics and other so-called third-generation solar cell technologies, which also include dye-sensitized cells.
Thin-film organic photovoltaic cells are cheaper than other solar cell technologies because of the material that's used. But the efficiency has limited their potential applications to areas such as embedded solar cells in buildings or portable solar chargers for electronic gadgets. ‘Konarka Power Plastic’ is a patent-protected thin film solar material that converts light to energy. The unique material is lightweight and flexible, lending itself to a wide range of applications where traditional photovoltaics are not effective.
The latest certification results are for Konarka’s large area single-junction solar cell with a surface area of 1 square centimeter. This efficiency rating far exceeds previous single-junction organic photovoltaic cell measurement on that surface area and represents the world record for OPV efficiency.
Konarka believes the new record setting cell opens new large-scale commercial opportunities for its Power Plastic material, “The progress Konarka has achieved this year with regard to solar cell efficiency is unprecedented, representing a significant milestone for the industry,” commented Howard Berke, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Konarka. “This unsurpassed NREL certification opens new doors for the commercial production of cost-effective, efficient electricity for numerous large scale applications.”
Just about less than two years ago, Konarka had produced cells with 6% efficiency. The company is still developing a range of flexible PV substrates that target both BIPV and BAPV markets.
Konarka, has raised over $150 million, has announced commercial agreements with a number of companies, such as Konica Minolta, but commercial use of its technology is still in the early stages.