Cyrium intros QDEC product line: High efficiency concentrator PV solar cells

OTTAWA, CANADA: Cyrium Technologies Inc. announced the introduction of the company’s first commercial product line: QDEC (Quantum Dot Enhanced Cell), a line of high-efficiency concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) cells for land-based, commercial solar applications.

“Our primary objective in developing the QDEC line is to provide our clients with high-efficiency cost-effective cells with consistent reproducible performance. Using Cyrium’s proprietary nanotechnology, the line of cells Cyrium is introducing today will exceed the performance of product currently available in the market,” said Harry Rozakis Cyrium’s president and chief executive officer.

“With today’s launch of QDEC, Cyrium moves considerably ahead of competitive solutions in delivering advanced multi-junction solar cells necessary for commercial CPV systems manufacturers,” Rozakis added.

“Cyrium’s product introduction sets new performance standards for solar cell suppliers to the CPV industry,” Rozakis said. “We believe the exceptional performance of our cells will enhance the CPV's business case, while the technology becomes a significant factor in moving the cost of renewable solar energy toward grid parity."

With average efficiency levels of 40% at >500-1000 suns and a minimum efficiency offering of 38 percent on a standard 10mm x 10mm cell, Cyrium’s QDEC products are expected to outperform all commercially available CPV cells. Cyrium’s fabless business model allows the flexibility to offer QDEC devices in a range of cell sizes at a competitive cost.

To achieve the lowest levelized cost of energy, CPV systems manufacturers require high efficiency cells with the lowest overall cost of ownership. Using advanced quantum dot nanotechnology, Cyrium’s QDEC product line should exceed clients’ existing performance targets, thus offering further performance choices to CPV systems manufacturers.

Simon Fafard, Cyrium’s chief technical officer, explained the benefits further: “Delivering sustained performance at >500-1000 concentrations with very little performance degradation at the highest illuminations is a major distinguishing feature of our QDEC products” said Fafard.

“Another advantage of the QDEC line, which we designed specifically for CPV applications, is that it delivers improved performance in the case of non-uniform illumination. And, Cyrium's proprietary Quantum Dot technology enables those benefits without added thicknesses or complexities.”