THIN FILM MORE BUILDING-INTEGRATABLE

Billed as a “breakthrough” product, Global Solar’s PowerFlex Solar Strings do nothing to make Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide (CIGS) thin film more efficient. It holds its own, in the 10% range.

The “breakthrough” is in producing a solar cell on a metal sheet, a “flexible substrate” that is sturdy enough to be used as a building material. The company describes the PowerFlex Solar Strings as “drop-in replacement solar strings that make it easy for product and module companies to fit thin-film cells into their current manufacturing processes…” The malleability makes it “adaptable in shape and size” and therefore accommodating to new designs within the “Building-Integrated Photovoltaic” (BIPV) architectural market.

Both the Global Solar PowerFlex Solar Strings process of roll-to-roll manufacturing and the finished product appear to resemble Evergreen Solar’s String Ribbon.

The CIGS material is also efficient enough to be fitted between glass plates and used like silicon-based thin films as solar windows. Global Solar claims its CIGS formula is the only thin film capable of being used either way.

Silicon thin film is more expensive, more rigid but more efficient.

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Global Solar Energy Introduces First Thin-Film Alternative for Silicon Module and BIPV Manufacturing; New PowerFlex Solar Strings Simplify and Speed Adoption of Low-Cost, Highly-Efficient and Flexible Thin-Film CIGS Technology
June 11, 2008 (Schwartz Communications via Business Wire)

WHO
Global Solar Energy

WHAT
Global Solar is introducing PowerFlex Solar Strings, a concept for application of its Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide (CIGS) thin film materials with greater facility.

CIGS and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) are the fastest growing new thin film formulations. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
Global Solar’s PowerFlex Solar Strings were first demonstrated at the WIREC event in March.

WHERE
- Global Solar’s introduction of the PowerFlex Solar Strings is at Intersolar in Munich, Germany.
- Global Solar is based in Tucson, AZ.

WHY
- Global Solar’s PowerFlex Solar String is designed to be used more efficiently as building material without losing solar energy generating capacity.
- CIGS solar cells made from PowerFlex Solar String are durable (described in company literature as “unbreakable”) and therefore easy to handle and expand in modular applications.

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QUOTES
- Alfonso Velosa, research director, Global Solar: “Thin-film photovoltaics are gaining attention and market share…Roll-to-roll manufacturing processes, a method used by Global Solar Energy, have the potential to be a disruptive technology in the photovoltaic industry, helping to generate greater activity in BIPV application development.”
- Mike Gering, president and CEO of Global Solar: “As more companies enter the thin-film market, the technology will continue to create new innovations and possibilities for solar energy’s future…Our PowerFlex Solar Strings help harness this potential, driving thin-film adoption by delivering the only drop-in offering that makes the technology accessible to any interested original equipment manufacturer. Global Solar is dedicated to helping expand the thin-film marketplace, growth which is essential if BIPV products and the future of green buildings are to become a cost-effective and realistic option.”