Hot electrons? Surface plasmons? Thin-film solar innovation marches on

Thin-film solar startup PI Energy didn’t disclose the photovoltaic materials system it’s been commercializing, other than to say that it wasn’t CIGS, CdTe, or perovskites.

March 19, 2020 Eric Wesoff

image: Tyler Hewitt Flickr cc

Thin-film solar startup PI Energy didn’t disclose the photovoltaic materials system it’s been commercializing, other than to say that it wasn’t CIGS, CdTe, or perovskites.

What does that leave? Organic solar cells? Unconventional solar materials such as iron pyrite, copper zinc tin sulfide or copper oxide? Plasmonics? Metamaterials? Some black swan pyro-nano-quantum technology? Silicon?

The company didn’t disclose the efficiency of the small cells it has been testing. (All of this non-disclosure made for an insipid interview with the CEO.)

PI Energy is developing a flexible solar panel which can be produced with a roll-to-roll manufacturing process using earth-abundant and non-toxic materials and claims that it has “built hundreds of prototypes for our nanomaterial PV technology…Our goal is to produce the first integrated PV material of the current generation design in early 2020.”

The startup has raised approximately $14 million over nine years from “private investors, mostly family offices with direct experience in renewable energy markets.” The company has also crowdsourced $200,000 on Start Engine.

PI Energy’s design does have a “nano metallic layer,” according to its website. The company has reputable people on its board of directors and advisory board. Patents authored by some of the founding team involve hot electrons and plasmonic-enhanced thin-film solar.

Phil Layton, CEO of PI Energy, spoke with pv magazine. He said it would be “Foolish to try to compete with c-Si as a small startup” and “So, we’ve focused for the last ten years more on what the market is missing.”

Layton spoke of targeting “unmet markets” such as the rooftops of electric delivery vehicles and buses that need flexible and light-weight solar for range extension. He suggested that buildings such as data centers need a lightweight PV material — as those roofs can’t tolerate the weight of racked and ballasted silicon panels.

He emphasized that the firm is making use of an “earth-abundant, non-toxic and durable material.”

Despite the massive scale and economics of the silicon industry, despite pandemics, and despite the long list of defunct thin-film aspirants — entrepreneurs are compelled to search for new solutions. It’s a reason for hope in dark times.

Here’s that list of defunct thin-film solar companies.

TSMC (CIGS) closed
OptiSolar (a-Si on a grand scale)
Senergen (depositing silane onto metallurgical-grade Si substrates) closed
Signet Solar (a-Si) bankrupt
Sunfilm (a-Si) bankrupt
Wakonda (GaAs) acquired by Siva, Siva shut down
EPV Solar (a-Si) bankrupt
Solyndra (CIGS) bankrupt
Ascent Solar (CIGS) acquired by TFG Radiant
Calyxo (CdTe) acquired by Solar Fields from Q-Cells
HelioVolt (CIGS) acquired by Korea’s SK Innovationness
NetCrystal (silicon on flexible substrate)
Abound Solar (CdTe) bankrupt
AQT (CIGS) closed
Ampulse (thin silicon) closed
ECD (a-Si) bankrupt
Flexcell (a-Si roll-roll BIPV) closed
Gadir Solar (a-Si PV) Spain-based customer of Oerlikon Solar closed
G24i (DSCs) bankrupt in 2012, re-emerged as G24i Power
Inventux (a-Si) bankrupt
Konarka (OSCs) bankrupt
Odersun (CIGS) bankrupt
Pramac (a-Si panels built with equipment from Oerlikon) insolvent
Schuco (a-Si) shutting down its a-Si business
Sencera (a-Si) closed
Soltecture (CIGS BIPV) bankrupt
Sharp (a-Si)
Solibro (CIGS) Q-Cells unit acquired and closed by China’s Hanergy
Scheuten Solar (BIPV) bankrupt, then acquired by Aikosolar
Avancis (CIGS) discontinuing production
Honda Soltec (CIGS thin-film modules) closing
Nanosolar (CIGS) closed
Solarion (CIGS) bankrupt
Willard & Kelsey (CdTe panels) bankrupt
GE-Primestar (CdTe technology acquired from PrimeStar) acquired by First Solar
Global Solar Energy (CIGS) acquired and closed by Hanergy
MiaSolé (CIGS) acquired and closed by China’s Hanergy
Alta Devices (GaAs) acquired and closed by China’s Hanergy
NuvoSun (CIGS) acquired by Dow
Wuerth Solar (CIGS line)
HelioVolt (CIGS thin-film PV) closed
Masdar PV (a-Si) closed its SunFab-based amorphous silicon PV factory in Germany.
TEL (a-Si) withdrew from a-Si solar
Xunlight (a-Si)

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