ThinFilm

CIGS companies eye building-integrated photovoltaics

AUSTIN, Texas--"It's like a great big grilled cheese sandwich machine."

That's how solar power company HelioVolt's vice president of marketing and sales, John Langdon, describes the company's pilot line for CIGS thin-film photovoltaics, a technology that a raft of companies are betting on to lower the cost of solar energy.

"You have the Gruyere cheese on one side and the Swiss cheese on the other; we make them react with one another and stick on the bread," Langdon continued when CNET News.com visited the company's headquarters in Austin.

Replace … Read more

HelioVolt claims CIGS solar efficiency mark

Solar upstart HelioVolt on Monday will announce that it has reached 12.2 percent efficiency with its CIGS solar cells, setting another mark in the race against competitors and silicon.

Company CEO BJ Stanbery will present a paper at the IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference where he will disclose the efficiency threshold which HelioVolt has reached in its labs. The well-financed company expects it can go much further in converting light to electricity.

More significant than the actual number is the fact that HelioVolt hit 12 percent efficiency with its manufacturing process, which it says can turn out a cell in … Read more

Coming to a mall near you: Power-generating windows

Solar company HelioVolt and Architectural Glass & Aluminum on Tuesday announced a partnership to produce glass windows capable of generating electricity.

HelioVolt is one of several new solar manufacturers using different materials to produce thin-film solar cells.

The company intends to make solar cells for rooftop panels and later get into building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), where cells are embedded onto roof shingles, blinds, awnings, or other building components.

The deal with Architectural Glass & Aluminum calls for the companies to design solar-enabled curtain walls, the glass facades on the outside of buildings, or architectural glass in the interior of buildings.

Citing … Read more

Nanosolar to set sights on residential market

There's been an explosion in the number of solar companies over the past few years. But for the most part, product development is destined for power plants operated by utilities.

That won't always be the case, however, says Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen, who wrote in a blog that the company will eventually serve the home rooftop market.

Nanosolar is a well-funded Silicon Valley solar manufacturer that started making thin-film solar cells and modules late last year. The first customer is a utility in east Germany.

In a recent blog, Roscheisen described why the company is targeting utilities first … Read more

Green Tech news harvest: More-efficient solar cells and 'biogasoline'

A sampling of green-tech news thus far this week, touching on solar cells, carbon markets, biofuels, and electric cars.

NREL: Record Makes Thin-Film Solar Cell Competitive with Silicon Efficiency Thin-film cells made from CIGS hit over 19 percent efficiency in NREL labs, rivaling traditional silicon. Shell, Virent form joint venture to convert crops to biogasoline | Chron.com/Houston Chronicle Forget ethanol. Here come hydrocarbons from plants. Shell and Virent to make 'biogasoline.' Technology Review: More-Powerful Solar Cells MIT spin-off 1366 Technologies (see Green Tech blog coverage) shoots for more efficient solar cells through manufacturing innovations. Pay for the Power, Not the Panels | The New York Times … Read more

Thin-film solar to see bright days ahead

Solar cells made from thin-film technologies could make up about one-third of the fast-growing solar photovoltaic market by 2015, a research firm predicted.

NanoMarkets on Monday released a report that forecast a rapid uptake of thin-film photovoltaics with spending set to grow from $1 billion this year to $7.2 billion by 2015.

The researcher listed several advantages that thin-film photovoltaics offer over traditional solar cells, which are made out of crystalline silicon wafers.

Thin-film solar cells, which can be made from a range of materials, can be put onto flexible substrates, which means that manufacturers can build electricity-producing walls, … Read more