11-12-2008
SCHOTT Solar to Participate in Organic Photovoltaics Cluster of Excellence
- Leading industrial companies to jointly develop innovative materials for alternative energy sources
- Efficiency of organic solar cells to increase up to 10 percent
- 2 million euros in annual funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Mainz/Darmstadt, November 12, 2008 – The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research recently announced support for a future-oriented development project from a consortium of leading companies and scientific institutions by providing annual funding of nearly 2 million euros over the next four years. SCHOTT Solar AG and Merck KGaA, the company that heads the consortium, will be working to develop flexible organic solar cells/modules together with their partners, Konarka Technologies (Nuremberg), VARTA Microbattery GmbH (Ellwangen) and various institutes at the universities of Ilmenau, Karlsruhe and Oldenburg, as well as the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (Stuttgart).
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This project is being driven by the innovative incentive of achieving a significant increase in the efficiency of these components of at least 10 percent, as compared to the organic solar cell approaches that are known today. Yet another goal is to demonstrate that these highly efficient cells can be produced using a cost-effective printing process. The resulting solutions would then represent a genuine alternative to existing inorganic solar cells/modules.
The partners in this project will each be contributing their own skills along the value-added chain, from development design to expertise in OPV materials, production of solar cells/modules, to use in end products. Here, SCHOTT Solar AG will be relying on its 50 years of experience in developing both the market and specific photovoltaic products. Merck will be leveraging its research center in Chilworth, Southampton (England), a facility that has already successfully developed and commercialized organic semiconductive materials.
Current planning calls for initial commercially exploitable results to be available starting in 2012. Potential applications for flexible solar cells include external power supplies for portable equipment and lighting, functionalized textiles and integrated power supplies for portable buildings.
More information available at www.schottsolar.com
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SCHOTT Solar’s high quality products exploit the virtually inexhaustible potential of the sun as a renewable source of energy. For this purpose SCHOTT Solar produces important components for photovoltaic applications and solar energy plants with parabolic trough technology. In the photovoltaic industry, the company is one of the few integrated manufacturers of crystalline silicon wafers, solar cells and photovoltaic modules. Wafer production is mainly carried out through a WACKER SCHOTT Solar joint venture, which ensures the supply of silicon necessary for long-term growth. Thanks to over 20 years of experience in thin-film technology, SCHOTT Solar also regards itself as one of the industry’s cutting-edge companies. In receiver production for solar power plants with parabolic trough technology, SCHOTT Solar considers itself to be the market and technology leader. The receivers are key components in large-scale power plants that generate electricity from solar energy centrally on the basis of parabolic trough technology and can supply entire cities with power. SCHOTT Solar has production facilities in Germany, the Czech Republic, the USA and Spain. SCHOTT Solar’s innovative power and technological expertise date back to the late 1950s. The main shareholder of SCHOTT Solar AG is SCHOTT AG, Mainz. SCHOTT develops special materials, components and systems for the household appliance, pharmaceutical, solar energy, electronics, optical and automotive industries. With around 16,700 employees, the SCHOTT Group generated a worldwide turnover of about 2.1 billion euros in fiscal year 2006/2007.
Further information:
SCHOTT Solar AG
Lars Waldmann
Presse und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
tel. +49 (0)6023 - 91 1811
fax +49 (0)6023 - 91 1700
lars.waldmann@schottsolar.com
www.schottsolar.de
Fink & Fuchs
Public Relations AG
Christina Rettig
tel. +49 (0)611 - 74131 934
fax +49 (0)611 - 74131 21
christina.rettig@ffpr.de
www.ffpress.net
- Files:
- press information no. 118/2008 (PDF, 36KB)
Your contact person: Christina Rettig
E-mail: Christina.Rettig@schott.com
