Soloptics announced this week results from recent performance testing at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for “FUSION™”, a special film that it says substantially increases the conversion efficiency of solar panels.
In tests performed by NREL, FUSION delivered conversion efficiency gains ranging from 10-12.5 percent depending on testing conditions.
“The FUSION product shows significant improvement in the PV current over existing technology, particularly under various low level lighting conditions,” says Keith Emery, Principal Research Supervisor at NREL’s Outdoor Test Facility.
Soloptics says FUSION achieves these gains for less than USD $0.10/watt (installed cost) and the film can be incorporated into solar panel production processes or applied to existing panels. The company says installation does not require expensive specialized equipment or labor and the product can also be customised to local conditions, specific solar panel manufacturers, or to filter out specific wavelengths of light.
Fusion boosts opportunity for electron replacement due to increased distance of light ray within photovoltaic material. The surface geometry of the film also redirects light reflected from internal surfaces back into photovoltaic material for absorption. FUSION’s microstructures also prevent the sun’s rays from reflecting off a solar panel’s surface, particularly during early and late in the day.
Soloptics states FUSION may be applied to silicon or thin film panels for comparable gains and it is quickly scalable to high volumes as it can be produced with existing manufacturing processes.
