SoloPower Rolls out Flexible, Lightweight Solar Power Modules

On Monday, SoloPower announced the launch of its new line of flexible, lightweight solar panels. The product, called the SFX1-i, is produced using low-cost roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques, weighs only 5 pounds and has a conversion efficiency of about 11 percent. The modules within are made using copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) solar cells, one of the more promising thin-film solar technologies.

The SFX1-i, an 80-watt module, is only the first of several to come from SoloPower. In line are the SFX1-i3, a 260W, 13-pound module, and the SFX2, a 170W module weighing 8 pounds.

SoloPower believes their flexible solar modules will provide customers with a feasible home solar power solution at a more affordable price accentuated by easy installation. SFX1-i modules are scheduled to be available to the general public sometime in the second half of 2010.

What sets SoloPower apart from its competitors in the young and volatile CIGS sector is its manufacturing process. Rather than using a sputtering, printing or evaporation process like most of its competitors (including struggling Nanosolar, Miasolé and Solyndra), SoloPower uses a unique electrochemical deposition process to attach its solar cells to a flexible foil substrate. This electrochemical process allows near 100-percent material utilization at a low cost, the company claims.

While other CIGS companies have gone to production first, all have met hardships, and SoloPower is no exception. After rebounding from a lawsuit with its founder, the company is now, with new CEO in the lead, finally plunging into the highly competitive and unpredictable sea that is the solar marketplace.

Sources: Jetson Green, Greentech Media

Posted on July 14th in Solar Products by Dan.