Key technologies to keep an eye on in 2006

Flexible, thin-film polymer photovoltaics, which can be made using a convenient roll-to-roll process, could soon be challenging traditional silicon solar cells. Last year, US firm Konarka gave itself a European base by acquiring Siemens’ organic photovoltaic research activities, and now it believes that its development partners could be manufacturing their first products within 12-36 months.

 ”We now have a roadmap and want to be able to get from, say, 7% [efficiency] up into the high teens and potentially over 20% in the laboratory,” said McGahn. “We’ve commissioned a pilot coating line for the laboratory development of a finished product and have entered into a relationship with German printing company Kurz to look at very-large-scale production.”

optics