United Solar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD) (NASDAQ:ENER) and manufacturer of UNI-SOLAR® brand photovoltaic (PV) laminates, today announced that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has confirmed an initial 12% conversion efficiency of a large-area solar cell using UNI-SOLAR’s proprietary Nano-Crystalline™ silicon. To date, this is the highest large-area cell efficiency confirmed by NREL for thin-film silicon PV technology.
United Solar has worked with NREL for more than two decades in the research and development of advanced thin-film PV technologies. “I am extremely impressed with United Solar’s recent breakthrough in efficiency in thin-film silicon photovoltaics,” said Dr. Ryne Raffaelle, Director of the National Center for Photovoltaics at NREL. “United Solar has been the unquestioned leader in their field and one of the few PV companies in the world that can offer a true building integrated photovoltaic product. I am very excited about our continued collaborations.”
The record-setting cell efficiency with an area of 400 square centimeters was encapsulated in UNI-SOLAR’s proprietary thin-film polymer. UNI-SOLAR’s triple-junction technology incorporates Nano-Crystalline silicon layers on a flexible stainless steel substrate and increases the cell’s efficiency by about 50%, relative to current UNI-SOLAR cells in production.
And what that means to the bottom line:
United Solar’s technology roadmap takes this ground-breaking technology into commercial production in 2012. The technological advancement drives meaningful reductions in the cost of installing a UNI-SOLAR solar energy system and will reduce the cost of generating solar electricity by over 20%. Ultimately, the company expects to offer solar energy systems that are capable of providing electricity at a cost below the utility grid.
Uni-Solar has faced a tough road to profitability. Just as production was ramping up in Greenville and looking to expand to Battle Creek, we hit the wall with the Great Recession, and the financing for large commercial solar projects dried up. Add the competition in America from subsidized Chinese imports, along with the fact that other foreign governments are making the investment to move to renewable power with large, subsidized projects - and you get stories in the Wall Street Journal that print rumors of Uni-Solar moving production to India.
Hope that doesn't happen - but if it does, you can probably thank Republicans like Fred Upton, who are promising to put the brakes on America's investment in this technology. President Obama is obviously going to make a strong push in the green energy direction; the trick now will be to get his own party and the media spin behind him.
He has the wind at his back, so to speak. Rasmussen, January, "Support for Renewable Energy Resources Reaches Highest Level Yet":
The number of voters who say investing in renewable energy resources is the best investment for America has reached its highest level since the beginning of 2010.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds that 66% say renewable energy resources like solar and wind are the best long-term investment for America. Twenty-three percent (23%) say fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil are the better investment, while 11% are not sure which is best for America. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
No time to waste. This is a winning issue in more ways than one, and companies like Uni-Solar are leading the way. Be a shame if they had to leave to chase those investment dollars overseas.
Don't blow it, America.