Darren Turner, AM racing driver, Jason Chow, executive president at Hanergy,...

Companies mentioned: Aston Martin, Hanergy Thin Film Power, Midsummer, Deloitte, Renusol America, and Stion.

Aston Martin racing cars gear up for thin film panels

Aston Martin has started to test thin-film solar panels fitted to its racing cars through a collaboration with Hanergy Thin Film Power.

Testing kicked off last week during the FIA World Endurance Championship with the #97 Aston Martin Vantage GTE fitted with two solar panels on the roof. The panels are anticipated to allow the cars to use solar energy to power auxiliary systems, such as the air condition that currently consumes power from the engine.

Although the car had been fitted with the solar panels for the past four rounds, it was only in Brazil when the engineering team connected the panels and began collecting data. Aston Martin reported its first use of Hanergy Thin Film Solar panels on its race car’s roof had met with initially positive results in powering sub-systems.

“The idea behind the solar technology project is to help develop and demonstrate the potential of the Hanergy thin film photovoltaic panels for use on both race and road vehicles," explained Aston Martin Racing Technical Director Dan Sayers. "This test was the first time that the system has gone active and it was a great success."

Sayers added that he hopes to have the system fully operational for the 2015 World Endurance Championship. Aston Martin originally signed the partnership agreement with Hanergy in June this year.

Midsummer slashes CIGS layer

Midsummer has reduced the active layer in its CIGS deposition process to 800nm, claiming that this is less than half of what other suppliers offer, therefore cutting down on deposition times and costs. The Swedish thin film equipment supplier claims to have achieved conversion efficiencies of 16.7%, on a 156mm square cell, using the 800nm thick CIGS absorber.

“By halving the thickness of the CIGS, the manufacturing cost will be significantly reduced, which further strengthens the business case”, Sven Lindström, CEO of Midsummer, said in a statement.

“Considering that the solar cell is made on stainless steel substrates, contains no cadmium buffer layer and that the production process is an all-dry, all vacuum process where all layers (including the buffer layer) are deposited by sputtering, this achievement by our engineers is truly impressive.”

The company is currently developing a back contact process that will reflect photons that have passed through the active layer, in a method not dissimilar to PERC technology in the c-Si space.

“Our scientists are constantly working on reducing the thickness and they will now start to work on this opportunity. As soon as we are done we will report it,” said Lindström.

Midsummer named one of the fastest growing tech companies

Midsummer, a Swedish supplier of production lines for flexible CIGS thin film solar cells, has ranked seventh on Deloitte Technology Sweden’s Fast 50 list. The company won the Deloitte Fast 50 competition in 2012 and was named the fastest growing cleantech company in EMEA the same year.

“To be tilted on this prestigious list this year shows that our investment in research and development are absolutely the right decision to make. Midsummer's goal is to become the leader in the market segment lightweight and flexible thin-film solar cells of the type CIGS and to expand the business even further within this fast growing segment,” said Midsummer CEO Sven Lindström.

The award is based on criteria such as rapid growth, large investment in technology research and development, ownership of proprietary technology, certain minimum levels of turnover and number of years in which operations are conducted.

Renusol to provide clamps for Stion’s frameless modules

Renusol America, a provider of flat and pitched-roof PV mounting solutions, announced it has been selected by thin-film module manufacturer Stion Corporation as a provider of clamps for its Elevation 4 (STL-A) thin film (CIGS) frameless modules.

Known as the Renusol VS Module Clamp, the PV mounting technology was developed specifically for Stion’s frameless, ‘glass on glass’ thin film modules and includes a rubber insert to protect the glass while providing maximum holding power.

The clamp meets Stion’s requirements for performance and aesthetics and the UL 1703 fire-rating standards, which become mandatory in California in January 2015.