AmpX Technologies (College Park, MD)
Cost-Effective Multi-Port Solar Power Conversion Unit based on Wide Bandgap Devices and Planar Magnetics
This project is developing a compact and low-cost integrated multi-port power electronics system for residential rooftop solar systems. This “one box” unit will interface all the major uni- and/or bi-directional sources and loads of a household, including solar panels, energy storage systems, and electric vehicles. It will also utilize the storage of electric vehicles more effectively and support home load and grid applications.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit our website.
Atonometrics (Austin, TX)
Fault Finder: Sensor that Locates Electrical Faults in PV Strings
This project is developing a “Fault Finder” sensor, which will help locate electrical faults in a photovoltaic (PV) string so they can be repaired more quickly, which saves time for operations and maintenance personnel, reduces downtime for PV systems, and improves system reliability. This cost-effective fault detection sensor would lower operational costs and risks of PV projects.
Combustion Research and Flow Technology (Pipersville, PA)
Efficient and Robust Compressor Designs for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (sCO2) Power Cycles
This project focuses on the development of highly efficient compressors for the sCO2 power cycle that improve performance and reduce risk at commercial-scale operation. The effort is developing innovative compressor design paradigms that are highly efficient and robust across the entire performance map. The goal is to commercialize these advanced new technologies for renewable solar power.
Concepts NREC (White River Junction, VT)
Advanced sCO2 Turbine for Concentrated Solar Power Application
This project is designing a test rig for demonstrating scale-appropriate bearing and seal component technology. The test rig can effectively replicate greater than 1 megawatt electric power levels. This will be done with an existing turbomachine in real-time conditions to accurately represent the challenges facing the component technologies.
DER Security(Scotts Valley, CA)
Energy-Informed Cyber and Physical Resilience for Distributed Energy Systems
This project is researching analytical techniques to detect cyberattacks on solar plants using PV network traffic and on-site power data to defend critical electrical grid infrastructure and maintain safe, continuous solar generation. The proposed technology will create long-term security and reliability improvements for utility-scale and commercial PV systems by creating the world's first energy-informed resilience and security solution for distributed energy resources (DER) or, more generally, inverter-based resources (IBR) that perform cyber-physical analysis of DER/IBR operations.
Fastwatt (Clifton Park, NY)
Compact Solar Direct-to-Medium-Voltage Grid Interface using Silicon Carbide and High Frequency Magnetics
This project is developing a compact, lightweight, multi-port power converter using wide-band gap semiconductors and high frequency transformers that can interface solar systems directly with medium voltage grids up to 35 kilovolts. The approach uses a high-frequency magnetics link driven by silicon carbide devices along with a novel insulation method to provide power conversion and step-up between a solar direct current plant and a medium voltage alternating current grid. The technology would be attractive in applications where a compact footprint is desirable (e.g., electric vehicle fast charging stations in cities) or where reduced weight has benefits (e.g., solar installations and wind turbines.)
Maxout Renewables (Livermore, CA)
Kiloboost: PV Surge Capacity for Off Grid Power and Battery Protection
This project uses a novel and effective approach for PV systems to supply load surge power when they are not connected to the grid by utilizing a supercapacitor with a power electronics interface. The technology will provide cost-effective surge power capability to a system, allowing a homeowner to use a backup system for average loads instead of the peak loads and reduce the cost of a whole-house PV backup system by 75% or more. The technology will also shield the installed lithium-ion batteries from the surge loads, protecting them from potential damage.
Mirai Solar (Mountain View, CA)
Agrivoltaic System with Adaptive Shading Addressing Vegetational Growth Cycle Needs through Seasonal Variations
This project is designing and testing components of a lightweight, semi-transparent, retractable PV system for agrivoltaics. This novel agrivoltaic system with unprecedented light management capabilities addresses the major drawbacks of current solutions, aiming to remove barriers that prevent widespread adoption of collocated farming and solar energy production.
Optivolt Labs(San Francisco, CA)
Ultra-Efficient Intra-Module Balancing DC Optimizer for Solar Systems
This project is developing low-cost power electronics to eliminate losses in solar panel output due to shading or debris, boosting solar energy output. Optivolt’s efficient sub-module balancing direct current optimizer will recover mismatch losses within a PV module at minimum cost while maintaining unshaded efficiency of over 99%.
Physical Sciences (Andover, MA)
Compact Additive sCO2 Heat Exchangers
This project aims to design and build a recuperator for installation in an sCO2 power cycle. Existing heat exchangers are very large and heavy with relatively low performance or are extremely expensive, representing an opportunity to reduce the cost of electricity generated in thermal power plants. The project will take advantage of advances in additive manufacturing that allow cost-effective development of advanced heat exchangers with low weight and volume that improve efficiency and cost-of-energy from new power generation plants.
Precision Combustion (North Haven, CT)
Improved Solar Industrial Process Heat Thermal Particles for Decarbonization of Chemical Production
This project aims to demonstrate decarbonization of industrial petrochemical manufacturing using advanced thermal particles, heated by concentrating solar power, by significantly reducing the amount of carbon emitted by ethylene manufacturing. Ethylene production is one of the most significant sources of carbon emissions in the chemical industry.
Quantum Power Systems (Austin, TX)
GaN Nanoinverter: Enabling Low-Cost Residential Solar Energy System
This project is developing a compact inverter, referred to as a nanoinverter, using gallium nitride (GaN) power switches. The nanoinverter will be much smaller and more efficient than today's state-of-the-art microinverters with the goal of fitting in the panel junction box. This could result in a true plug-and-play alternating current PV module architecture with a substantially lower installation cost and fire risk.
Solar Unsoiled (Durham, NC)
A Photovoltaic Soiling Model for Development-Phase Solar Assets
This project is developing a soiling model to reduce the financial risk associated with uncertainties in modeling losses from solar panel soiling and accelerate the financing of new solar farms. A comprehensive approach will address soiling for currently operating sites that employ a predictive soiling model informed by data analytics and a proprietary method utilizing a digital microscope to image particles on the panel surface. Using the dataset, the project team plans to improve the accuracy of their predictive soiling model for development-phase sites where data analytics and the microscopy images are not available.
Solution Spray Technologies (Storrs, CT)
High-Performance Coatings for Turbomachinery in sCO2 Cycles for Concentrated Solar Power Plants
This project is developing and validating a high-performance thermal barrier coating that will significantly improve the efficiency, durability, and cost effectiveness of sCO2 turbine systems for concentrated solar power plants. The novel coatings developed during this work will have the potential to advance the concentrated solar power technology and facilitate the adoption of renewable energy by providing a robust, low-cost, non-intermittent, supplementary power source.
Turbine Monitoring and Support Services (Atlanta, GA)
Virtual Reliability Software for Real Time Detection of Failures at PV Plants
This project aims to commercialize a software-based failure detection technology to remotely and continuously detect string and tracker faults in PV power plants. This will be accomplished using measurement instruments already installed at plants. Currently, failures detected by this approach are only detectable through manual inspection or periodic aerial imaging. The technology will improve reliability and power production while reducing maintenance costs, and its successful adoption will enable accelerated renewables growth into the power grid.
VIA Science (Somerville, MA)
VPP Coordination of Solar Resources with Zero-Knowledge Proofs and Smart Contracts
This project is leveraging the latest in secure, distributed software technologies to create a new business model for solar virtual power plants. This will widen the reach and benefits of solar energy to millions of Americans, especially those who are renters and live in multi-family dwellings, enabling renters, often the most underserved and disadvantaged segment of the population, to benefit economically from their participation in the transition to clean energy.
Epower Technology (Manhattan, KS)
GaN Quad-Active-Bridge Converter for Hybrid PV-Battery Systems
This project is developing a four-port, bi-directional power converter to efficiently connect distributed solar power, energy storage systems, electric vehicle charging stations, and the utility grid. This approach offers a modular, scalable, power-dense, and high-efficiency solution for managing diverse energy sources and loads. The proposed solution supports broader adoption of renewable energy and modernizes energy infrastructure.
Mission Power Corp. (Potsdam, NY)
Whole House Multi-Port Inverter
This project is developing and building a residential multi-port inverter for solar and storage connections. The unit is more powerful and flexible than current available units. It allows connection of multiple devices for the whole home and provides a direct current connection for any device to connect directly, including batteries and bi-directional electric vehicle charging.
Noria Energy Holdings (Sausalito, CA)
Platform for Floating Solar-Powered Water Technologies
This project aims to commercialize technology that increases energy production from floating solar by up to 15%. The team is developing a platform that converts high voltage, direct current energy from a floating solar system to a usable, low voltage for water technology at the project site, such as aerators or pumps. This will lower the costs and infrastructure challenges associated with powering equipment to treat and maintain bodies of water and enable the rapid deployment of high value, distributed solar energy.
Resilient Power Systems (Austin, TX)
Fast Recoverable and Fault-Tolerant Resilient Power Converter Under Extreme Weather Conditions for Megawatt-Power Solar Energy/Storage Systems
This project aims to enable direct connection of solar converters to distribution grids, supporting grid stability during adverse weather conditions and facilitating the addition of large amounts of solar energy into the nation’s power grid. This converter, housed in a weatherproof enclosure, is able to withstands extreme weather conditions and provides reactive fault current during short circuits to prevent voltage dips.
Sporian Microsystems (Lafayette, CO)
Advanced High Temperature Instrumentation for Gen3 CSP Systems
This project is developing novel, high-temperature, onsite sensors for use in high-temperature CSP systems to aid the development of CSP technologies that provide electrical power safely, efficiently, and within the cost targets required for adoption. In the long term, the technology will improve monitoring and controls in plants by providing information on heat flow conditions in real time, enabling plants to run more efficiently and reliably to meet cost targets and meet adoption thresholds.
Acme Express(Cleveland, Ohio)
Solar Array Racking System
This project team is creating an automated solar module racking system that can be produced from sheet metal on the installation site, reducing costs associated with transporting conventional multicomponent racking systems that require more labor to produce and assemble.
BEM Controls (McLean, Virginia)
An Energy Internet Platform for Transactive Energy and Demand Response Applications
This project team is developing software that uses blockchain to securely manage data, communications, and the control of devices among many elements and participants in a microgrid, including building managers, utilities, and distributed energy resource asset owners.
ecoLong(Slingerlands, New York)
Advanced Peer-to-Peer Transactive Energy Platform with Predictive Optimization
This project team will create software that allows consumers and utilities to directly communicate with each other about energy services, optimizing distributed energy resource assets, building load, and transaction costs. The software algorithm will be able to predict energy load and generation over short and medium periods.
Fend (Falls Church, Virginia)
Low-Cost, Plug-and-Play Data Diodes for Solar Equipment Cybersecurity
This project team is creating a communication device called a data diode that provides secure, one-way transfer of information, to protect power infrastructure from cyberattacks at a fraction of current costs.
Operant Solar (Santa Rosa, California)
Cybersecurity Intrusion Detection System for Large-Scale Solar Field Networks
This project team is using blockchain to connect solar energy systems in a secure network to protect the grid against cyberattack, as opposed to the current practice of isolating power plants from the internet.
QCoefficient(Chicago, Illinois)
Peer-to-Peer Transactions with Demand Flexibility for Increasing Solar Utilization
This project team will develop a platform for automated energy transactions between electric grid participants—especially commercial building owners and distributed energy resource asset owners and managers—enabling automated energy use with high penetrations of solar energy.
Sunvapor (Livermore, California)
Metrology-Assisted Robotic Mirror Alignment for Parabolic Trough Collectors
This project team is developing a robotic, automated assembly method for parabolic trough solar collectors, which collect solar energy that generates steam, to reduce labor costs and enable easy transport to installation sites.
Sunfig Corporation (Oakland, California)
Real-time Series Resistance Monitoring of Solar PV Modules by Communicating Limited Remote Measurements to Cloud-based Algorithm via API
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has patented an algorithm for remotely monitoring the health of solar photovoltaic modules. Sunfig is partnering with industry leaders to validate this algorithm on installed PV systems, not in the lab, and then commercialize it. The project involves taking data from the inverter in real time, and using the software to assess module performance.
Atonometrics (Austin, Texas)
PV Module Soiling Spectral Deposition Detector
This project will help determine the commercial feasibility of an affordable technology that can measure soiling, or dust and dirt on panels, which can limit the efficiency of solar equipment and lead to increased operation costs. The technology, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, involves shining light through dirty glass to see how much comes through the other side.
Phase3 Photovoltaics (Portland, Oregon)
Intelligently Manufactured Homes with Factory-Integrated Solar Systems Delivered to the Build Site Enabling Dramatic Soft Cost Reductions
This project will customize photovoltaic systems for premanufactured smart homes. The team will mass-produce the equipment in a centralized facility to lower the installation, permitting, and interconnection costs, instead of assembling the solar systems on-site. The proposed turnkey systems dovetail into energy-efficient appliances through an intelligent power management hub in the home.
GVD Corporation (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Reduced Environmental Controls in Perovskite Solar Cell Manufacturing Enabled by Vacuum-Deposited Gas Barrier Coatings
GVD Corporation will develop a low-cost gas barrier coating for perovskite solar cells. The coating will protect against environmental gases like water vapor that can degrade the perovskite material. The coating will reduce the cost and improve the reliability of the manufacturing process.
BREK Electronics Corporation (Englewood, Colorado)
250 Kilowatt Solar String Inverter Using Silicon Carbide Modular Architecture and Grid Support Functionality
BREK Electronics Corporation will develop a new power converter technology for string inverters. The technology has higher power ratings and higher power density, allowing its use in utility-scale solar installations and reducing capital costs.
NanoSonic (Pembroke, Virginia)
Electrospray Deposition of Perovskite Solar Cells
Perovskite is a material that increases the efficiency of solar cells, but it is difficult to apply evenly on the cell’s base, which is often glass. NanoSonic will partner with Pennsylvania State University to create a cost-effective perovskite spray that evenly deposits the material on the base of the solar cells while maintaining its solar conversion performance.
Direct Solar LLC (Fort Collins, Colorado)
New Crystalline Silicon Module Architecture to Reduce Costs with Improved Manufacturability and Durability
This project team will develop a new module that uses silicone to seal the edges and contain the glass in solar cell. The materials will reduce the cost of encapsulation materials and manufacturing, and improve reliability of solar modules.
Helical Solar Solutions (Austin, Texas)
Low-Cost Dual-Axis Solar Positioning System with Novel Monopole and Integral Lateral Support
This project will address several critical barriers to installing small- and medium-size rural solar installations by developing an easy-to-install bifacial, dual-axis solar energy system that allows the solar panels to move in two directions. This allows the system to better track the sun and increase the amount of solar energy generated.
Quest Renewables (Atlanta, Georgia)
Stand-alone Solar Racking System to Resist Extreme Weather Events
This project team is developing a stand-alone solar racking system that can provide electricity without interruption during and after extreme weather events without the support of the grid. This technology will be designed for installation in areas with high risk of natural disaster and maximize operability and energy availability. The system will also minimize restoration time and costs.
Soliculture (Scotts Valley, California)
Luminescent Enhancement for Combined Solar and Commercial Agriculture
This project team will develop a new solar racking/mounting system for greenhouses. The system will feature a new backsheet material on the solar panels in different colors that are tailored to the crops growing in the greenhouse underneath it. Crop trials performed under this system can be extended to open-field agriculture with utility-scale racking systems.
NEXTC CORPORATION (Corvallis, Oregon)
Solar Modules: Low Cost Manufacturing
This project team is developing a liquid solution of transparent conductive oxides to coat very large thin-film modules. This solution will be able to conduct electricity while also preventing environmental moisture, gases, and dirt from seeping into the equipment.
FarmAfield Labs (Lincoln, Nebraska)
Pole-based Solar Mounting and Tracking System for Use in Cattle Production
This project is developing a solar mounting and tracking system that integrates solar photovoltaic systems into animal feeders. This will let farmers generate solar energy while managing their livestock. The system will provide shade for cattle in places where trees are not available while allowing producers to consolidate the costs of materials and installation for two separate structures into a single setup.
Starfire Energy (Aurora, Colorado)
Low CapEx Clean Ammonia Synthesis for Seasonal Energy Storage and Hydrogen Fuel
This project team is developing a clean-fuel synthesis system that uses solar energy to generate ammonia to use as fuel for chemical storage of electricity. This storage system can provide an affordable and scalable long-term energy storage technology to help ease solar integration in the grid.
Ceramic Tubular Products (Lynchburg, Virginia)
High-Temperature (750° to 800°C) Silicon Carbide Receiver Assembly for High Efficiency Gen3 Molten Salt Concentrating Solar Power
This project aims to develop multilayer silicon carbide receiver tubes for use in molten salt concentrating solar power plants, leading to the development and deployment of plants that are cost-competitive with conventional power generation. This would result in increased renewable energy power production, new job creation, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions.
L'Garde (Tustin, California)
Novel Lightweight, Low-Cost Heliostat for Concentrating Solar Power
This project team will fabricate low-cost, lightweight heliostat mirrors for concentrating solar-thermal power plants. The team will use affordable materials like foam and stainless steel to build the heliostats, which will reduce their weight and improve performance.
NanoFlex Power Corporation (Scottsdale, Arizona)
Advanced Manufacturing of Low-Cost Building Integrated Organic Photovoltaic Modules
This project team will develop flexible solar sheets in a variety of sizes and colors to mount on commercial building facades, enabling low-cost renewable energy to help meet energy demand on site.
Jolt Energy Storage Technologies (Holland, Michigan)
Low-Cost, Durable Organic Batteries for Dispatchable Solar Applications
This project team will develop a low-cost, reliable, and sustainable solution using batteries and a control system that optimizes the changing power flow of solar PV, reducing the impact of the variability of solar power on grid stability.
Norwich Technologies (White River Junction, Vermont)
Behind-the-Meter, Distributed-Scale CSP System Enabled by Very Low-cost Working Fluid and Thermal Storage
This project team will develop a small-scale concentrating solar power system incorporating a long-duration, low-cost storage system that will create a solar system capable of round-the-clock operation.
Tectonicus Constructs (Bisbee, Arizona)
Solar River – Canal Spanning Solar Power
This project will enable landowners to obtain more revenue from cropland by covering and powering their irrigation canals with solar. This team will build solar structures that reduce evaporation and lower irrigation costs without impeding crop production or requiring the move of farm equipment.
Powdermet (Euclid, Ohio)
Advanced Materials for Concentrating Solar Power Molten Salt Storage
This project will demonstrate suitable construction materials that enable the cost-effective, reliable building of high-efficiency concentrating solar power thermal energy storage systems, which are among the most scalable and efficient methods to store renewable energy.
Norwich Technologies (White River Junction, Vermont)
Device to Promote Snow Shedding from Photovoltaic Panels to Improve Energy Yield and Critical Infrastructure Resilience
Heavy snow can block sunlight from photovoltaic arrays, reducing their annual production by up to 16%. This project team will develop a device that gets snow to slide off panels, reducing the time to recover to full functionality and power production by at least 50%.
Skysun LLC (Bay Village, Ohio)
Tensile-based Ganged Heliostat Tracking System
Skysun will construct a PV array prototype using heliostats, typically used in concentrating solar-thermal power plants, and test it at Sandia National Laboratories. This technology aims to reduce solar tracking installation equipment costs by using just two poles for support and two cables for mounting.
Heila Technologies Inc. (Somerville, Massachusetts)
Solar Asset Control System Based on Advanced Decentralized Architectures
Electric grids are vulnerable to extreme events because of their centralized architecture and single point of failure. This project will develop to reduce vulnerability by developing a decentralized control system for power equipment that will enable solar and storage to quickly restore power and reduce the impact of outages.
Brayton Energy, LLC (Hampton, New Hampshire)
Flexible All-metal Pipes and Pipe Couplings for High-Temperature Fluid Transport
Rotational pipe couplers for high-temperature molten salt are required to reduce the cost of renewable electricity generated by solar plants. This project will develop a flexible coupler made entirely out of metal. The coupler has a smooth internal shape, which prevents fluid from being trapped in convolutions such as those present in existing rotational couplers. It is optimized to be highly flexible while still able to withstand the pumping pressures required in typical molten salt plants. It will be able to move through 180 degrees of motion daily for the entire lifetime of a solar plant. Future applications may include additional fluids, such as supercritical carbon dioxide.
eIQ Energy Inc. (San Jose, California)
Solar Balance of System Cost Reduction
The eIQ Energy patented vBoost® technology takes the voltage off of the solar module and provides a 300-900 Vdc output. Since the technology can be integrated into the solar module, it will allow the customer to have a direct DC output from the module that will not require any additional power maximization, or Maximum Power Point Tracking (“MPPT”). This will allow a single product to drive either a central inverter or a DC load directly with no additional hardware. eIQ’s technology will offer an integrated solution to the market that will lower costs and installation times for PV systems.
Tau Science Corporation (Beaverton, Oregon)
Apparatus for Optimizing PV Solar Manufacturing Efficiency through Real-Time Process Feedback and Spectral Binning of Cells
Tau Science Corporation is developing light engine and detection electronics to extract spectral response metrics from a PV cell without the need to make electrical contact to the material stack. The technology revolutionizes PV characterization by bringing the most fundamental measure of a solar cell performance--spectral response-- to application areas that are impractical or unobtainable using existing techniques. Applications include inline monitoring of cells prior to metallization, accessing information from individual cells once they are assembled into PV solar modules without the need for light or electrical biasing, and monitoring of metallized cells without the breakage loss inherent to techniques requiring electrical contact.
Energy Sense Finance, LLC (Tampa, Florida)
Developing Aggregated Data Sets to Standardize the Collateral Valuation Process Utilizing an Economic Pricing Model
Energy Sense Finance is developing solar valuation data sets to assist real estate appraisers, along with other professionals involved in the solar transaction process, in determining the asset value of both existing and proposed solar PV systems. The new approach recognizes that the lack of verifiable data is a current barrier to developing credible opinions of value for solar as an asset class. The solution utilizes data sets to better align current solar valuation methodologies with those used in traditional, low cost of capital lending markets. By removing barriers to credible valuation of solar systems, the “Ei Value™” web application can establish a verifiable solar asset value even before financing is issued and a system is installed. This will benefit homeowners, real estate appraisers, realtors, lenders, insurance companies, green raters, credit rating agencies and third party owners among others by streamlining the solar valuation process and effectively opening up access to a lower cost of capital.
ClearGrid Innovations Inc. (White Plains, New York)
Innovative Approaches to Lead Generation Using Novel Data-Sets
Generating leads for new business (“lead generation”) is one of the most important costs for residential solar marketers. It is currently poorly targeted and inefficient, due to suboptimal information about the probability that target households will adopt solar. ClearGrid Innovations and project partner Duke University are leveraging two complex data-sets – (1) the presence and visibility of nearby existing solar panels and (2) moves in electricity rates – to reduce the costs and increase the efficiency of lead generation.
Solar Retina, LLC (Boulder, Colorado)
Solar Retina: Crown-Sourcing “Behind-the-meter” Solar PV Data
The SolarRetina is a software platform that provides real-time intelligence of “behind-the-meter” solar PV generation on the distribution system. Using crowd-sourced solar generation data from actual PV systems on the distribution grid, the SolarRetina provides superior distributed solar generation analysis.
Trevi Systems Inc. (Petaluma, California)
Desalination Driven by Steam-Generating Concentrating Solar Collector
Trevi Systems, Inc will help expand the country’s water resources by providing an extremely efficient desalination process, which can produce water that is priced competitively with conventional sources. The process will be driven by solar thermal energy and will reduce electricity use so that the water production does not rely on non-renewable energy.
Vertum Partners LP (Los Angeles, California)
Integrated Predictive Systems for Solar Energy with Modeling, Post Processing and Machine Learning
With increased ability to cost-effectively tap solar resources at a community level, the energy market is changing from a one-way centralized network into a dynamic decentralized system where the energy consumers are now also energy producers. This means that predictive services are necessary to ensure optimum grid performance and to keep integration costs low. Vertum is developing advanced solar predictive tools that will allow utilities to project solar production in the face of fast-changing weather conditions. Project research is focused on building market-based designs that make solar energy resources in the United States more affordable and accessible for Americans. Within Phase 1 of this project, the company is creating distributed solar power analytics and predictive services for utilities.
Microtreat are exported all over the world and different industries with quality first. Our belief is to provide our customers with more and better high value-added products. Let's create a better future together.
Sinton Instruments (Boulder, Colorado)
Device-Physics-Accurate Cost-Effective Cell and Module Test Instruments
Sinton Instruments is developing detailed characterization tools to improve next-generation PV cells and modules. The tools will characterize the electronic properties of cells and modules after manufacturing, enabling better process control and reliability testing by tracking fundamental semiconductor parameters within the module. By integrating detailed device physics into the test sequence, cell characteristics can be related back to incoming material, substrate doping, and carrier recombination measurements performed during manufacturing. Cell measurements can also be related forward to the module characterization and reliability testing. The project will help to lower the cost of PV by enabling detailed process control and optimization throughout the entire cell and module manufacturing process.
Brittmore Group, LLC (San Jose, California)
Utility-Scale PV Cost Reduction by Automated Panel Installation System
Brittmore Group is applying industrial automation to large-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plant construction. Brittmore Group's automated panel installation system will remove panel assemblies from the shipping pallets and transfer them to the shuttles that deliver them to their mounting positions. The system will reduce costs by handling large, frameless modules safely, simplifying and centralizing material handling, reducing labor and materials, and decreasing construction time. The system will operate with the in-house developed ground mount rack.
Next Energy Technologies Inc. (Santa Barbara, California)
Reliability Improvement in Solution Processable Roll to Roll Photovoltaic Modules
Next Energy Technologies (NEXTs) soluble small molecule (SSM) organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells promises to lower the cost per watt of modules and also the balance of system costs below the goals of SunShot. NEXT’s SSM-OPVs can be coated as inks onto conventional plastic rolls in high yields using roll-to-roll technology and allowing for the production of lightweight, flexible, and extremely inexpensive solar cells. This project focuses on enhancing inherent device stability in order to increase product lifetime and reduce the cost of vapor barrier and packaging materials required for modules.
Sporian Microsystems Inc. (Broomfield, Colorado)
Advanced Ceramic Materials and Packaging Technologies for Realizing Sensors for Concentrating Solar Power Systems
Sporian is developing novel temperature, pressure, flow and level sensors to enhance the safety and efficiency of concentrated solar power (CSP) heat transfer and thermal energy storage. The sensors will improve the reliability, optimize the performance, and reduce the cost of existing and future CSP plants. Leveraging its existing high-temperature sensors and packaging technologies for fossil fuel applications, Sporian will work with CSP industry experts to develop small-sized, reliable, high-temperature, and corrosion-resistant sensors. This effort includes materials experimental evaluation, design development, and prototype demonstration.
Brayton Energy, LLC (Hampton, New Hampshire)
Flexible All-metal Pipes and Pipe Couplings for High-Temperature Fluid Transport
High-temperature molten salt used in concentrated solar power plants require rotational pipe couplers to reduce the cost of renewable electricity generated by solar plants. This project will develop a flexible coupler made entirely out of metal. The coupler has a smooth internal shape, which prevents fluid from being trapped in convolutions such as those present in existing rotational couplers. It is optimized to be highly flexible while still able to withstand the pumping pressures required in typical molten salt plants and will be able to move through 180 degrees of motion daily for the entire lifetime of a solar plant. Future applications may include additional fluids, such as supercritical carbon dioxide.
eIQ Energy, LLC (San Jose, California)
Labor Efficiencies through Hardware Innovation
The eIQ Energy patented vBoost® technology takes the voltage off of the solar module and provides a 300-900 Vdc output. Since the technology can be integrated into the solar module, it will allow the customer to have a direct DC output from the module that will not require any additional power maximization, or Maximum Power Point Tracking (“MPPT”). This will allow a single product to drive either a central inverter or a DC load directly with no additional hardware. eIQ’s technology will offer an integrated solution to the market that will lower costs and installation times for PV systems.
Energy Sense Finance, LLC (Punta Gorda, Florida)
Developing Aggregated Data Sets to Standardize the Collateral Valuation Process Utilizing an Economic Pricing Model
Energy Sense Finance is developing solar valuation data sets to assist real estate appraisers, along with other professionals involved in the solar transaction process, in determining the asset value of both existing and proposed solar PV systems. The new approach recognizes that the lack of verifiable data is a current barrier to developing credible opinions of value for solar as an asset class. The solution utilizes data sets to better align current solar valuation methodologies with those used in traditional, low cost of capital lending markets. By removing barriers to credible valuation of solar systems, the “Ei Value™” web application can establish a verifiable solar asset value even before financing is issued and a system is installed. This will benefit homeowners, real estate appraisers, realtors, lenders, insurance companies, green raters, credit rating agencies and third party owners among others by streamlining the solar valuation process and effectively opening up access to a lower cost of capital.
MicroXact Inc. (Blacksburg, Virginia)
-- This project is inactive --
Real-Time Photovoltaic Manufacturing Diagnostic System
MicroXact is developing a high-throughput, inline photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing diagnostic system that provides data on the spatial uniformity of thickness, refractive indices, and film stress of the thin films comprising the solar cell as it is processed reel-to-reel. This information has the potential to detect a wide variety of processing errors, including but not limited to thickness and composition inhomogeneity in any layer-comprising PV device, non-uniform scribing, thin-film stress, cracking, and layer separation.
Tau Science Corporation (Beaverton, Oregon)
-- This project is inactive --
Apparatus for Optimizing PV Solar Manufacturing Efficiency through Real-Time Process Feedback and Spectral Binning of Cells
Tau Science Corporation is developing light engine and detection electronics to extract spectral response metrics from a PV cell without the need to make electrical contact to the material stack. The technology revolutionizes PV characterization by bringing the most fundamental measure of a solar cell performance -- spectral response -- to application areas that are impractical or unobtainable using existing techniques. Applications include inline monitoring of cells prior to metallization, accessing information from individual cells once they are assembled into PV solar modules without the need for light or electrical biasing, and monitoring of metallized cells without the breakage loss inherent to techniques requiring electrical contact.
Central Technological Corporation (Altamonte Springs, Florida)
Real-Time POD-CFD Wind-Load Calculator for PV Systems
Central Technological Corporation is developing a real-time wind load calculator to improve the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Currently, wind loading calculations for structures are performed according to the American Society of Civil Engineers 7 Standard, which does not have provisions to handle characteristics relevant to most rooftop PV systems. The new approach, based on the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method, will use a grid-converged 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and determine the loads resulting from wind-induced drag and lift forces on PV mounting systems. By enabling accurate, preliminary assessments of wind loads, the tool will help to identify optimal mounting solutions, thereby reducing the installation costs of PV systems.
Direct Solar, LLC (Fort Collins, Colorado)
Novel Module Architecture Development for Increased Reliability and Reduced Costs
Direct Solar has developed a new solar PV module design and technology to increase the reliability of PV modules. The patent-pending architecture uses a specialized, two-part edge seal incorporating high strength, UV-tolerant silicone, and low-moisture vapor transmission polymers in conjunction with a separate desiccant material. The modules are fabricated without lamination, vacuum pressing, or module heating and the encapsulation sealants are dispensed through hot melt injection. By streamlining the manufacturing process, the technology will reduce the costs of solar by increasing thin-film PV reliability.
Janoch Engineering, LLC (Westford, Massachusetts)
In-Line LBIC
Janoch Engineering is applying a light- or laser-beam induced current (LBIC) technology to measure problematic defects and performance variations in solar PV cells and modules. By obtaining detailed images of the optoelectronic performance of PV devices, the technique locates defects and measures diffusion length, shunt resistance, surface recombination, and other properties. By analyzing multiple measures of process variability in real time, the tool will increase reduce manufacturing costs and increase module efficiency.
Sinton Instruments (Boulder, Colorado)
Device-Physics-Accurate Cost-Effective Cell and Module Test Instruments
Sinton Instruments is developing detailed characterization tools to improve next-generation PV cell and module testers. The tools will characterize the electronic properties of cells and modules after manufacturing, enabling better process control and reliability testing by tracking fundamental semiconductor parameters within the module. By integrating detailed device physics into the test sequence, the tested cell characteristics can be related back to incoming material, substrate doping, and carrier recombination measurements performed during manufacturing, and also related forward to the module characterization and reliability testing. The project will help to lower the cost of PV by enabling detailed process control and optimization throughout the entire cell and module manufacturing process.
Terrajoule Corporation (Redwood City, California)
-- This project is inactive --
Terrajoule Modular Distributed CSP with Storage System Using Water/Steam Phase Change for Energy Storage and Generation
Terrajoule is designing and analyzing three closely related system improvements for a modular distributed concentrating solar power (CSP) system with storage. The system will be demonstrated at the 100-kW scale with 6 to 14 hours of thermal electric storage using water/steam phase change for energy storage and generation. The distributed CSP with storage system will integrate next-generation heliostats, tower, receiver, and engine modules such that the overall thermal efficiency of the Distributed CSP with Storage system exceeds 38%, including a full 24-hour energy storage charge/discharge cycle. The project aims to exceed the SunShot Initiative's cost and performance goals by by providing a low-cost, long life, abundant, and nontoxic material design, and rapid response to changing demands, high efficiency under variable loads, and components all manufactured in the United States.
TIAX, LLC (Lexington, Massachusetts)
Software Tool for Code-Compliant Assessment of Wind Loads on Solar Photovoltaic Panels
Currently, the proper installation of PV panels requires laborious design calculations to determine a system's ability to withstand wind loads. Because these calculations require expertise in the applicable codes and are subject to judgment, they are prone to human errors. TIAX is developing an application to automate the calculation of wind loads and provide recommendations for the appropriate PV mounting systems. The application will feature an accessible GUI-enabled software platform that helps installers easily investigate panel configuration options, the required number of panels, and optimal mounting schemes, thereby increasing the safety of PV arrays, and reducing the costs of installing PV systems.
Xunlight 26 Solar, LLC (Toledo, Ohio)
-- This project is inactive --
Transparent, Flexible CdTe Modules for High-Efficiency Tandem PV
This project implemented new approaches developed in Phase I for transparent back contacts for flexible, thin-film CdTe cells. The goal was to develop a top-cell structure for tandem modules to match a low-bandgap bottom cell such as CIGS or Si, and to optimize a stand-alone, transparent top cell with less than 500 nm of CdTe for use in window PV applications. Back-contact structures based on single-wall carbon nanotubes and on multilayer metals were optimized in collaboration with the University of Toledo.
-- These projects are inactive --
Black Hills Nanosystems Corporation (Rapid City, South Dakota)
Optimal Multijunction Solar Cells for CPV under Realistic Conditions
This project aims to provide a pathway for terrestrial concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) (500 to 700 Suns) multijunction solar cells that would maintain extremely high efficiencies at realistic operating temperatures. The project adapted an integration approach from microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) to III-V materials grown lattice-matched to gallium arsenide substrates. The efficiency advantages were found to be substantially due to the 37% smaller temperature coefficient of efficiency for the proposed CPV cell.
Cool Earth Solar Inc. (Livermore, California)
Research and Development of an Innovative Inflated Medium Concentrating PV Module for Achieving an Installed PV Module Cost of $0.50/W before
Cool Earth Solar (CES) is developing a Medium Concentrating Photovoltaic (MCPV) system that can achieve a levelized cost of energy of less than 6 cents per kilowatt-hour. This effort focuses on the development, integration, and performance testing of a sub-scale MCPV module capable of concentrating the sun 15 to 25 times. The module uses high-efficiency solar cells that cost far less than multijunction solar cells. The goal was to demonstrate the feasibility of 22.5% or greater module efficiency using CES’ unique concentrating inflated film optic.
Hyper-Therm High-Temperature Composites Inc. (Huntington Beach, California)
Ceramic Matrix Composites for Concentrating Solar Power Solar Receivers
Continuous fiber-reinforced ceramics are an emerging class of materials that offer considerable potential for increasing the operating temperatures of central receiver concentrated solar power (CSP) plants. The incorporation of high strength, relatively high modulus ceramic fiber reinforcement within a ceramic matrix produces a material with significantly greater toughness, flaw insensitivity, and strain capability than a monolith, while maintaining high-temperature refractory capabilities. Silicon carbide fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (SiC/SiC) offers the necessary high-temperature strength and oxidation resistance, and has been identified as a suitable candidate material for the high-flux portion of the solar receiver. This effort encompassed the design of a pressurized ceramic matrix composite (CMC) tubular solar receiver; the demonstrated fabrication of receiver prototypes and material for coupon-level materials testing; and the evaluation of thermal and mechanical materials properties, as well as the structural and thermal performance of the solar receiver prototypes.
Next Energy Technologies Inc. (Santa Barbara, California)
Reliability Improvement in Solution Processable Roll to Roll Photovoltaic Modules
Next Energy Technologies (NEXTs) soluble small molecule (SSM) organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells promises to lower the cost per watt of modules and also the balance of system costs below the goals of SunShot. NEXT’s SSM-OPVs can be coated as inks onto conventional plastic rolls in high yields using roll-to-roll technology and allowing for the production of lightweight, flexible, and extremely inexpensive solar cells. This project focuses on enhancing inherent device stability in order to increase product lifetime and reduce the cost of vapor barrier and packaging materials required for modules.
United Silicon Carbide Inc. (Middlesex, New Jersey)
15 kV GTO Thyristor Module for Use in Small, Highly Efficient Current Source Inverters Utilizing AC-Link™ Technology
United Silicon Carbide and Princeton Power Systems fabricated a switch module that is rated at 15 kV, thus usable for switching voltages up to ~11 kV. Adopting a bipolar p-type SiC-GTO approach, coupled with the AC-link™ topology, allows the device to switch in the medium voltage range while maintaining low losses and a high switching speed (~10 KHz). Switching at medium voltages allows the current to be reduced drastically by a factor of ~10, thus impacting every other component in the inverter. The module provides a significantly smaller, more efficient and lower cost solution for converters/inverters for utility scale smart grid and energy management applications.
-- These projects are inactive --
Brittmore Group, LLC (San Jose, California)
Utility-Scale PV Cost Reduction through an Automated Panel Installation System
Brittmore Group is applying industrial automation to large-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plant construction. Brittmore's automated panel installation system will remove panel assemblies from the shipping pallets and transfer them to the shuttles that deliver them to their mounting positions. The system will reduce costs by handling large, frameless modules safely, simplifying and centralizing material handling, reducing labor and materials, and decreasing construction time. The system will operate with the in-house developed ground mount rack.
Cool Earth Solar Inc. (Livermore, California)
Research and Development of an Innovative Inflated High Concentrating PV Module for Achieving an Installed PV Module Cost of $0.50/W Before
Cool Earth Solar (CES) is developing a concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) system that uses inflated polymer film primary optics to achieve the SunShot Initiative's cost reduction and performance improvement goals. This project will demonstrate a module efficiency of 30% on integrated systems, including 2-D concentrating (point focus) inflated primary optic films, coupled with high-efficiency multi-junction cells. The results will demonstrate the feasibility of a high-efficiency, low-cost solar power system that uses minimal materials and increases lifetime reliability.
Glint Photonics Inc. (Menlo Park, California)
Wide Angle Self-Tracking Concentrator Photovoltaics
Glint Photonics is developing a novel high-concentration PV module that eliminates the need for costly precision mechanical trackers by enabling automatic solar tracking within the concentrator itself. Novel optical designs embed optical materials that respond to sunlight within the concentrator, allowing the proposed concentrator to track the sun over a wide range of incidence angles. This could reduce cost by enabling the concentrating PV modules to be mounted on rooftops, other stationary configurations, or on low-cost single-axis trackers.
Ideal Power Converters Inc. (Spicewood, Texas)
3-Port PV and Battery Converter Improves Cost and Efficiency of Combined PV/Battery Systems
Integrating low-cost battery storage with intermittent solar PV generation plants is the goal of high-penetration PV, but when PV and battery systems are used together, the converter-related balance-of-system (BOS) costs and efficiency losses can be doubled. This is because multiple power converters and multiple power converter steps are required. Ideal Power Converters is developing and demonstrating a three-Port PV & battery converter concept to reduce converter losses, thereby improving system efficiency and reducing installation and converter costs for hybrid systems that integrate Solar PV with battery storage.
Inspired Light, LLC (Corvallis, Oregon)
Self-Configuring Solar Tracking System
Inspired Light will develop and demonstrate a self-configuring solar tracking mechanism and controller that will enable low-profile, self-contained tracking assemblies to be deployed quickly. The tracker will be controlled by a unique motion controller, borrowed from consumer electronics design, to enable reductions in size, weight, hardware cost, and installation time. When Inspired Light's technology is integrated with high-efficiency, low-cost PV modules developed in-house, the result will be a comprehensive low-cost and self-contained system that can be rapidly deployed in ground-mount or rooftop applications.
SkyFuel Inc. (Arvada, Colorado)
Development of a Low-Cost Ultra Specular Advanced Polymer Film Solar Reflector
Skyfuel is developing a high-performance polymer film reflector with a solar-weighted hemispherical reflectance (SWHR) > 95%, improved reflector specularity with a beam spread ≤ 1 mrad, a service lifetime of 30+ years, and a cost ≤ $5.50/m2. Skyfuel will determine the feasibility of the proposed reflector by demonstrating a polymer-based front surface reflector that has the required mechanical stability and layer-to-layer adhesion, ~1% increase in SWHR, compared with existing state-of-the-art polymer film reflector products, and long-term outdoor weatherability.
Sporian Microsystems Inc. (Lafayette, Colorado)
Advanced Ceramic Materials and Packaging Technologies for Realizing Sensors for Concentrating Solar Power Systems
Sporian is developing novel temperature, pressure, flow and level sensors to enhance the safety and efficiency of CSP heat transfer and thermal energy storage. The sensors will improve the reliability, optimize the performance, and reduce the cost of existing and future CSP plants. Leveraging its existing high-temperature sensors and packaging technologies for fossil fuel applications, Sporian will work with CSP industry experts to develop small size, highly reliable, high-temperature, operable, and corrosion-resistant sensors. This effort includes materials experimental evaluation, design development, and prototype demonstration.
-- These projects are inactive --
MicroXact Inc. (Christiansburg, Virginia)
Real-Time Photovoltaic Manufacturing Diagnostic System
MicroXact is developing a high-throughput, inline photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing diagnostic system that provides data on the spatial uniformity of thickness, refractive indices, and film stress of the thin films comprising the solar cell as it is processed reel-to-reel. This information has the potential to detect a wide variety of processing errors, including but not limited to thickness/composition inhomogeneity in any layer-comprising PV device, non-uniform scribing, thin-film stress, cracking, and layer separation.
Tau Science Corporation (Beaverton, Oregon)
Optimizing PV Solar Manufacturing Efficiency through Real-Time Process Feedback and Spectral Binning of Cells
Tau Science is investigating advanced metrology concepts for solar cell manufacturing. At present, manufacturers lack immediate feedback on key process steps such as junction formation and film deposition. This gap is particularly evident when an offline sampling plan cannot be easily implemented for continuous roll processing. In response, non-contact, electro-optic techniques are being developed to extract semiconductor bandgap and full spectrum photoresponse. These techniques, if successful, may be implemented inline for improved process feedback and control.
Lehighton Electronics Inc. (Lehighton, Pennsylvania)
Using Microwaves, Coupled Eddy Current, and Open-Circuit Voltage Technology to Improve PV Manufacturing Processes
Lehighton Electronics is looking to combine sheet resistance and OCV dopant density and carrier lifetime to enable nondestructive measurements of PV wafers and cells for process control during manufacturing. The data, combined with photoluminescence and electroluminescence measurements by Wilkes University, will provide feedback for troubleshooting problems, with the final goal of developing a combined instrumentation system.
-- These projects are inactive --
Colnatec LLC (Gilbert, Arizona)
Self-Cleaning Process Control Sensor for Thin-Film Solar Cell Manufacturing
Colnatec is developing a thin-film deposition process control and measurement sensor for the fabrication of CIGS and related thin-film solar cells. The unique capability of this sensor is the ability to operate at temperatures up to °C. This opens the door to monitoring CIGS furnace processes, solar cell surface chemistry, and crystalline phase formation, which can ultimately lead to the highest efficiency PV cells possible. A side benefit is this same sensor operates better than current technologies in organic vapor phase deposition (OVPD), the leading process for making flexible (OLED) lighting, flexible electronics circuits, and low-cost organic PV panels.
Spire Corporation (Bedford, Massachusetts)
Next-Generation, LED-based, Adjustable Spectrum, Pulsed Solar Simulator
Spire's next-generation solar simulators incorporate arrays of high-reliability, low-voltage, solid-state light emitting diodes that emit across the entire solar spectrum to generate light whose spectrum can be electronically programmed. This makes it possible to use one simulator to rapidly test silicon, thin film, concentrator, or other solar modules as they emerge from the manufacturing assembly line. The electronically tunable spectrum feature is useful for diagnosing the performance of multi-junction tandem cells, where each junction of the tandem cell can be independently evaluated for current generation and efficiency. Designed to operate in a "flasher" mode, light flashes of arbitrary duration can be keyboard controlled. Because the system is based on a modular design, simulators of arbitrary size can be assembled.
Spire Corporation (Bedford, Massachusetts)
Photoluminescence for Solar Cell Crack Detection
Spire Corporation is developing an automated system using photoluminescence (PL) imaging for detecting microcracks in mono- and multi-crystalline silicon solar cells. Unlike electroluminescence, which requires probing of a cell that is complete with electrical contacts, PL is a non-contact technique that can be used to monitor cell quality at any step in the cell fabrication process. High-quality, 1-megapixel PL images of 156-mm-square cells are being obtained with a laser illuminator and an infrared line scan camera in 2.3 seconds or less. Image processing software is being developed to automatically identify cells with microcracks. A prototype high throughput (1,200 cells/hour) system is being built and tested.
-- These projects are inactive --
Nano EnerTex Inc. (Houston, Texas)
Ultra-Thin III-V Films for Tandem Photovoltaic Application
Nano EnerTex partnered with the University of Houston to demonstrate that ultra-thin (< 1 micron) dual-junction solar cells with practical efficiencies in excess of 25% may be achieved through careful design optimization. The team evaluated the design parameters as a function of dislocation densities for devices that comprise a 1.7 electron volt (eV) top AlGaAs solar cell and a 1.25 eV bottom GaAs(N)Sb cell. The experimental validation of modeling data on thin-film subcells grown on intentionally dislocated buffers indicated that even for defect densities in excess of 108cm-2, top and bottom cells with open-circuit voltages of in excess of 1 and 0.75 volts (V) respectively were obtained. These findings stress the potential for fabricating high-efficiency, defect-tolerant, thin-film III-V devices.
Plant PV (Mountain View, California)
Highly Efficient, Thin-Film Tandem Solar Cells
Plant PV studied solution-processed, wide-bandgap chalcogenides for tandem applications. The goal of this project was to develop efficient devices with open-circuit voltage exceeding 1V.
Xunlight 26 Solar, LLC (Toledo, Ohio)
Transparent Back Contacts for Thin CdTe-Based Tandem Cells
Xunlight 26 Solar is building on its Phase I effort with a Phase II project.
Luminit, LLC (Torrance, California)
Holographic Building Integrated Photovoltaic (HBIPV) Technology
Luminit developed a holographic building integrated photovoltaic (HBIPV) technology using highly efficient multiplexed holograms with expanded bandwidth and PV cells. The development of the HBIPV technology is intended to replace the old building materials or structures, giving a push to new aesthetics in the building industry while adding PV generation for increased solar energy yield.
Creative Light Source Inc. (Boulder, Colorado)
Holographic Passively Tracking Planar Solar Concentrator
Creative Light Source developed a holographic solar concentrator based on the concept of an inexpensive holographic film applied to a 2-mm-thick panel of glass or plastic. Photons are captured by the hologram, trapped within the panel and funneled via internal reflection to thin PV strips at the panel edge. One of the advantages of using this technology in a solar panel is that the holograms provide the ability to track the sun without any moving parts. The panels are fixed in space and multiple hologram layers are used to trap the sun's light from different angles.
-- These projects are inactive --
TDA Research Inc. (Wheat Ridge, Colorado)
A New Three-Part Architecture for Efficient and Stable Bulk Heterojunction OPV Devices
The project extended the range of operation of bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics (BHJ OPV) that are based on poly(3-hexyl)thiophene:fullerene blends further into the red (from ~630 nm to ~850 nm and beyond), while retaining the inexpensive solution processing characteristics of the binary blend. The ternary component of the new architectures was selected from a range of soluble yet relatively easy-to-synthesize organic dye molecules. Issues related to device stability were addressed by eliminating chemically unstable materials, which are unnecessary in the new architecture.
SVV Technology Innovations Inc. (Sacramento, California)
Concentrator PV Receiver Based on Crystalline Si Cells
The project aimed to solve the problem of inherent complexity in concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) by developing an innovative module. The CPV module employs a novel slat-array solar concentrator and a linear receiver based on off-the-shelf crystalline silicon cells. The open web frame concentrator structure offers a low-cost alternative to parabolic trough collectors. It also reduces the wind drag, thereby reducing the weight of the support frame as well as providing a highly uniform concentrated flux on the cells without losses associated with secondary optics.
MicroLink Devices (Niles, IL)
Backside Contact Multijunction Solar Cells for High Concentration Applications
This project developed a method for fabricating multijunction solar cells with backside contacts to improve cell efficiency under high concentration. Backside contacts have been applied to crystalline solar cells to achieve record efficiencies by reducing grid shadowing and resistive losses. Under high optical concentrations used in CPV systems, the losses associated with the topside grid metal increases significantly. The fabrication process developed etches via holes in the epitaxial structures to move the electrical grid to the backside of the device.
GT Crystal Systems, LLC (Salem, Massachusetts)
Material Utilization and Waste Reduction through Kerf Recycling
Silicon bars were sliced into wafers using diamond-plated wire to avoid contaminating the silicon kerf (sawdust). The kerf was processed into feedstock by melting and directional solidification. The recycling reduced the need for virgin silicon and minimized environmental disposal challenges.
For more than 40 years, Oriel Solar Simulators have been providing customers with the closest spectral match to solar radiation. Oriel now offers Class AAA models in sizes from 2x2 inch (51 x 51mm) through 12x12 inch (300 x 300mm) certified to IEC, JIS and ASTM guidelines that deliver the performance in solar illumination you need for the most demanding applications. For those applications that do not require such industry leading performance, Class ABA, ABB, and unclassified systems are also available.
Our PVIV Test Solutions comprises a complete I-V measurement solution including sophisticated IV measurement software, various models of sample holders including temperature controlled vacuum chuck, and electrical probing solutions that works with any Oriel Solar Simulator. Oriel’s IV Tester software makes this solution easy to configure, adapt or integrate into other test set-ups.
Oriel offers a variety of solutions for measurement of Quantum Efficiency. From components to build a custom design with the QE/IPCE Measurement Kit to the turn-key Quantum Efficiency Measurement System featuring simultaneous measurement of external quantum efficiency (EQE) and internal quantum efficiency (IQE), our QE measurement solutions are designed to help the researcher perform these tests on virtually any photon-to-charge converting device. Combining a pre-engineered selection of Newport and Oriel products, these devices offer flexibility, versatility, and repeatability while saving you time in designing and setting up your test protocols.
For photovoltaic cell applications, the Oriel QE measurement products are designed for use with PV cells of all types including single, tandem and multi junction Si based cells, thin film solar cells on any substrate including CIGs, CdTe, and dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Combining a pre-engineered selection of Newport and Oriel products, these kits offer flexibility, versatility, and repeatability while saving you time in designing and setting up your test protocols.
IV test stations and QE systems can be configured with accessories for temperature controlled sample handling, electrical probing, light and/or voltage biasing, calibrated reference cells with meters, and spectrometers. Spectroscopy Instruments can help you get up and running quickly.
If you don’t see exactly the right solution for your application please contact a sales engineer and we will be happy to have our engineering team discuss your custom needs.
The Newport Technology & Applications Center's Photovoltaic (TAC-PV) Lab is accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) to ISO/IEC . Staffed with trained specialists and housed with new equipment, this state-of-the-art facility has opened its door for prototype PV device performance measurements and/or for PV cell calibration and certification.
In addition to the TAC-PV Lab's dedicated facility for PV cell calibration, Newport's Technology and Application Center (TAC) is equipped with modern ultrafast lasers, spectroscopy and imaging instruments that enable us to perform many advanced studies including transient absorption, pump-probe, non-linear ultrafast spectroscopy, multiphoton imaging, and other material characterization techniques. These tools and techniques have allowed us to understand the properties of materials used in photovoltaic cells at molecular and atomic level.
See additional information for PV Cell Calibration and Certification Services, and online contact form to discuss your specific PV application needs.
Newport also offers the industry's broadest range of standard photonics products for both basic and applied research and development in PV. This includes the full spectrum of R&D-Lab equipment; from vibration control tables, to a wide variety of motion control, optics and opto-mech, to lasers, laser diodes and photonics instruments. With over 15,000 products, we can provide the basic tools you need to do virtually any optics-based research!
The company is the world’s best thin film solar module laser scribing system supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.