Konarka makes progress with its technology

Konarka Technologies continues to make significant progress with its technology for organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cell.

Last month National Energy Renewable Laboratory (NREL) certified that Konarka’s organic based photovoltaic  solar cells have demonstrated 6.4% efficiency.

Konarka Technologies stated that this is the highest performance recorded by NREL for an OPV solar cell.

In December, Dr. Alan Heeger of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and chief scientist at Konarka, received verification from NREL for a 6% organic PV cell. He invented a photo-reactive polymer material. This proprietary material can be printed or coated inexpensively onto flexible substrates using roll-to-roll manufacturing, according to the company.

Konarka Power Plastic is a patent-protected thin film solar material. Power Plastic consists of several thin layers:  a photo-reactive printed layer, a transparent electrode layer, a plastic substrate and a protective packaging layer. Earlier this year, Konarka introduced seven standard products: Power Plastic panels of varying sizes and power-generating capacities.  These panels come with integrated connectors, ready to be integrated by the device manufacturer.

In February this year, the company had received $5 million in financing in connection with its production facility in the city of New Bedford. The long-term loan came from a funding collaboration between the Emerging Technology Fund of Massachusetts Development Finance Agency and the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust’s Business Expansion Initiative.