Nanosolar: Company Profile
Every minute, enough solar energy reaches the earth to power the global electric demands for one year. That is the potential for solar power. However, directly converting sunlight to electricity using solar cells has been hampered by technical limitations. Many silicon based solar cells convert less than 10 percent of the light reaching the cell into electricity. Along with low efficiency, another limitation of solar cells has been their reliance on large fragile silicon wafers supported by a glass frame to protect the cells from the environment.
Not only has this increased the cost of manufacturing, but it also reduces the efficiency of manufacturing solar panels and increases the cost of installations. End users worry about supporting fragile solar panels in bulky frames at the site, making it challenging to use traditional solar cells with businesses and homeowners.
What if it were possible to change the manufacturing process, create a lightweight and flexible product that could be rolled on the surface of a roof like a flexible roofing material? Nanosolar is exploring new methods of producing solar cells that have a higher efficiency and are less costly and more convenient for end users.
Background and Research Direction of Nanosolar
Martin Roscheisen and Brian Sager, two former Stanford PhD candidates, founded Nanosolar in 2002. They had one simple vision – make solar power an order of magnitude cheaper. Between 2002 and 2006, Nanosolar continued to acquire and develop roll printing solar technology focused on the copper-based semiconductor, CIGS.
A unique aspect of Nanosolar’s approach to the solar energy conversion problem is focusing on thin film technology and using nanoparticle ink to create solar cells that are highly efficient, flexible, and are less expensive to manufacture. Nanosolar has been exploring the use of a proprietary ink printing process that eliminates the need to use a high vacuum process for depositing the thin films. The printing process also allows Nanosolar to control precisely the ratio of the deposition of the four metals that make up the CIGS alloy over the course of the manufacturing process. This would not be possible using traditional vacuum manufacturing processes.
They also have developed a multi-purpose foil substrate that helps in further reducing the cost of manufacture. The foil serves both as a support for the cell as well as the back electrode, reducing manufacturing steps.
CIGS and Solar Cell Efficiency
Nanosolar’s decision to focus their efforts on the copper-based CIGS semiconductor printing technology is directly helping the company become a world leader in solar technology. The proprietary process has also allowed Nanosolar to construct large-scale panels that are able to carry high currents and produce more power than traditional thin film techniques.
In 2006 the Nanosolar engineering and research team achieve a world record efficiency of 14.6% for solar cell conversion of light to electricity. By using a flexible substrate, they are able to create solar power cells in a variety of shapes and sizes for many different uses. The flexibility of the material also allows the factory to adjust the length and width of the solar cell to meet the needs of the customer. Time Magazine listed Nanosolar’s thin film technology (#25 on the list) as one of the top 50 inventions for 2008.
Products and Partners
Nanosolar has formed several strategic partnerships, including a partnership with Conergy, the largest solar power cell manufacturer in Europe, with revenues greater than $1 billion. Nanosolar also established a strategic partnership with the world’s largest utility company, EDF, and with the AES Corporation, one of the world’s largest power companies. With this support, Nanosolar has constructed the world’s largest solar cell factory in Berlin, capable of producing 620MW of solar cells per year, and a 430MW factory in San Jose, the United State’s largest solar factory.
Using the CIGS technology and their proprietary manufacturing process, Nanosolar provides a 25-year warranty for their solar cells.
Because of the flexible manufacturing process, Nanosolar is in a unique position to rapidly develop new products and release them. At the current time, they manufacture and sell two major products to system integrators, electric utilities and strategic partners.
The Nanosolar Utility Panel
Nanosolar designed the utility panel specifically for use at large-scale megawatt utility plant solar farms. Through an innovative engineering process, the utility panel is able to carry between five and ten times more current than other thin-film technologies.
The Nanosolar SolarPly
This flexible solar cell is able to be cut to any size and does not require soldering to create an electrical contact. A unique feature of the SolarPly is its flexibility and durability. At this time, the SolarPly is only available to Nanosolar strategic partners.
Read more about Concentrated Solar Power Market Potential
