The project has been approved by the European frame program HORIZON 2020 targeting to strengthen the European research excellence, meet the great needs of society and increase the competitiveness of the European Industry. The project is focused on further development of the CIGS thin film solar cell technology towards higher efficiency with a special emphasis on reaching commercial maturity, especially regarding upscaling and cost, where the project targets the Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic (BIPV) market.
The solar cell technology is experiencing a very large global growth. Today, yearly solar cell installations amount to 50 GW and more than 90 % of these installations consist of crystalline Si-based modules.
A market segment which is expected to reach a high growth rate is BIPV. For a successful integration of solar cells into buildings there are additional requirements on the modules that have to be considered such as light-weight, possibility for semi-transparency and as well as esthetics aspects.
This project includes collaborations between research institutes, universities and companies representing different business sectors from electric utility and solar cell production to equipment suppliers and material manufacturers. The overarching goal is to further develop technologies that may lead to a restart of the solar cell industry in Europe. Given the harsh competition from China, thin film modules, which combine high efficiency with low material costs and with great esthetic value may have its best business opportunities in the building integration market.
The target of the project is a 40 % cost reduction compared to current industrial state-of-the-art. Furthermore, this project will use both glass and thin steel substrates.
The project consortium consists of two SMEs, six research institutes, two industrial companies and two universities with complementary expertise and long experience in related technologies;
- Uppsala University, Sweden
- Interuniversity Micro-Electronics Centre, Belgium
- Centre National de la Research Scientifique, France
- Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
- International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Portugal
- Midsummer AB, Sweden
- Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Netherlands
- Solibro Research AB, Sweden
- University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Obducat Technologies AB, Sweden
- Électricité de France, France
- Advanced Coatings & Construction Solutions, Belgium
- ArcelorMittal, France
Obducat Technologies AB will focus on the fabrication of nanostructured electrodes to overcome absorption losses in the case of ultra-thin absorption layers. Additionally, Obducat will also use its state-of-the-art nano imprint technology for nano structuring of Large Area substrates.
The project is scheduled to run over 3 years with a total budget of 5.1 MEUR.
This is information that Obducat AB (publ.) is required to disclose pursuant to the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication on September 13, 2016 at 10.30 CET.
For further information, contact:
Patrik Lundström, CEO: +46 46 10 16 00 or +46 703 27 37 38
Henri Bergstrand, Chairman: +46 46 10 16 00 or +46 708 88 72 45
About 2020 Horizon
Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) – in addition to the private investment that this money will attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market. http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/
About Obducat AB (publ)
Obducat AB is an innovative developer and supplier of technologies, products and processes used for the production and replication of advanced micro and nano structures. Obducat’s products and services serve the demands of companies within the LED, OLED, semiconductor, displays, biomedical and MEMS industries. Obducat’s technologies include nano imprint technology, coating technology and wet processing technology. Obducat has offices in Sweden, Germany and China and the headquarter is located in Lund, Sweden. The Obducat shares are publicly traded on the Swedish NGM Equity stock exchange. Read more at www.obducat.com and www.solar-semi.com