Konarka Technologies, Inc. has opened what the company says is the largest roll-to-roll flexible thin film solar manufacturing facility in the world, preparing for the commercialization and mass production of its thin film solar material, Power Plastic.
Located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the 250,000 square foot building was previously the location for Polaroid Corporation’s most advanced printing technologies.
Constructed and further expanded in the 1990’s for Polaroid’s
advanced technology development and large-scale manufacturing,
Konarka’s New Bedford facility has been retrofitted to immediately
begin initial production of Power Plastic. Using multiple in-line
processing stations with precision multi-layer manufacturing processes
that are adaptable to a variety of printing and coating technologies,
the facility will enable the company to further develop and advance
nano-enabled polymer photovoltaic materials that are lightweight,
flexible and more versatile than traditional solar materials, according to a release.
"This facility has state-of-the-art printing capabilities that are ready for full operation, with the future potential to produce over a gigawatt of flexible plastic solar modules per year," commented Howard Berke, executive chairman and co-founder of Konarka.
With this U.S. based manufacturing location, Konarka further expands its presence in Massachusetts and accelerates its aggressive plans to develop and commercialize its polymer-based organic photovoltaic (OPV) technologies worldwide. In addition to acquiring the fully automated roll-to-roll manufacturing line, the company has also hired the leading technology and process engineering teams from Polaroid.
Konarka’s advanced photovoltaic technology started with the work of the late Dr. Sukant Tripathy, an internationally known polymer materials scientist, provost at UMASS Lowell and founder of the Plastic Innovation Center and Dr. Alan Heeger, Konarka’s chief scientist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2000.
The ground-breaking discoveries from both founding scientists led to Konarka’s underlying technology, including a manufacturing process at relatively low temperatures, which enables the use of low-cost plastic substrate films. As a result of these pioneering innovations, the company has secured over $100 million from venture capital and private equity funds, as well as $18 million in government agency research grants from the U.S. and Europe.
In addition to global and national interest, the project has been assisted by various Massachusetts departments and quasi-public agencies, including the Massachusetts Governor’s Office, the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s Renewable Energy Trust Fund and Green Energy Fund.
The company has also partnered with the City of New Bedford to become a Certified Project under the Massachusetts Economic Development Incentive Program (EDIP). Under the EDIP, Certified Projects receive favorable state and local tax treatment in exchange for committing to certain job creation and private investment criteria. The EDIP is designed to increase economic activity within the Commonwealth’s identified Economic Target Areas (ETAs) and the City of New Bedford has historically utilized the EDIP as one of its key economic development planning tools.
About Konarka Technologies, Inc.
Konarka develops and manufactures solar plastic films that convert light to energy. As a developer of polymer-based, organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology that provide a source of renewable power in a variety of form factors, Konarka has a broad portfolio of patents, technology licenses and an accomplished technical, scientific and manufacturing team. Manufactured at low cost and low energy consumption, the company’s Power Plastic® technology is lightweight, flexible, scalable and adaptable for use in a variety of commercial, industrial, government and consumer applications. Konarka Technologies is headquartered in Lowell, Mass., U.S.A. and has a full scale production manufacturing facility in New Bedford, Mass. U.S.A., with European headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany, business development offices in Asia and a research and development facility in Austria.
Loading...