Feb 3 2011
Energy Conversion Devices’ subsidiary and producer of UNI-SOLAR-branded photovoltaic laminates, United Solar, has declared that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has verified an initial 12% conversion effectiveness of a huge-area solar cell utilizing the in-house Nano-Crystalline silicon of UNI-SOLAR.
This is the optimum huge-area solar cell effectiveness verified by NREL for thin-film silicon photovoltaic technology until today.
United Solar has collaborated with the NREL for over twenty years in the research and development of sophisticated thin-film photovoltaic technologies. The record-breaking cell effectiveness with an area of 400 cm2 was encapsulated in the proprietary thin-film polymer of UNI-SOLAR.
The triple-junction technology of UNI-SOLAR integrates Nano-Crystalline silicon layers on a supple stainless steel substrate and enhances the effectiveness of the solar cell by nearly 50% when compared to existing UNI-SOLAR cells under manufacturing.
United Solar plans to commercialize this innovative technology in 2012. The sophisticated technology will reduce the installation cost of a UNI-SOLAR solar power system and will decrease the solar electricity production cost by more than 20%. Eventually, the company anticipates providing solar power systems that can produce electricity at a cost lesser than that of the utility grid.
The Chairman of United Solar and Executive Vice President of Photovoltaic Technology, Energy Conversion Devices, Subhendu Guha, stated that the record-breaking solar cell efficiency was attained under the Solar America Initiative Program of the US Department of Energy. United Solar headed the program along with NREL and related universities, he added.