Oct 19 2010
Ascent Solar Technologies Inc, a producer of flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules, declared that it has earned the distinction of becoming the first thin-film flexible monolithically integrated CIGS modules producer to be given a total IEC 61646 certification for meeting the requirements of environment testing.
The number of environmental tests conducted to meet the IEC 61646 standard includes a damp heat testing for a total of 1,000 hours with 85% proportional humidity and 85° C temperature to check the reliability of the products and its long term performance. The Ascent solar modules successfully completed the tests to meet the required standard. By undergoing and completing the required tests the modules manufactured by Ascent Solar has now become the first ever high powered and flexible CIGS module to undergo such tests, thus providing the company a competitive edge over other products. Ascent solar is likely to utilize the certification to push its modules for use in building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) as well as in building applied photovoltaic (BAPV) usages in residential, industrial and commercial type of roof top applications. A recent report from Nano Markets predicts that BIPV applications market will reach $6.6 billion sales by 2015.
Dr. Farhad Moghadam, Ascent Solar’s President and CEO, called the receiving of the IEC 61646 certification as a major success for the company. He detailed the intention of the company to join the race with the currently existing technologies by constructing test sites for the already completed installations as well as for the new installations. He added that the product offers significant improvement in power production while reducing the balance of the system cost and the installed system costs thus reducing the spending of the end user. He expressed optimism about the new flexible CIGS package penetrating the solar market.
Source: http://www.ascentsolar.com/