Konarka announces largest OPV installation, first semi-transparent BIPV curtain wall

Intersolar Europe 2011, LOWELL, USA: Konarka Technologies Inc., an innovator in development and commercialization of Konarka Power Plastic, a lightweight, flexible solar material that converts light to electricity, announced the largest OPV installation of its kind and the first OPV semi-transparent BIPV curtain wall. Easily laminated onto glass, Konarka’s semi-transparent solar panels were installed in the company’s New Bedford, Massachusetts facility.

“Konarka’s Power Plastic made with proprietary, semi-transparent material and laminated inexpensively onto glass is easily integrated into building walls,” commented Howard Berke, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Konarka. “Organic PV is much less energy intensive to manufacture compared with crystalline silicon. Konarka’s transparent photovoltaic film is ideal for glass curtain walls because of its superior low light sensitivity, thermal performance, light weight and performance over a wide range of sunlight angle of incidence.”

In the New Bedford facility, Konarka’s Power Plastic is installed in both south and east facing walls. Being able to integrate solar panels into multiple walls delivers greater electrical output. Typical solar installations occur on rooftops, although there is generally far more area to accommodate PV system integration in building walls, especially in multi-story buildings.

A world leader in OPV technology, Konarka’s solar panels are lightweight, flexible and versatile, offering various large and small scale applications including curtain walls, components within windows and other building integrated (BIPV) and building applied (BAPV) categories. Konarka’s roll-to-roll manufacturing process facilitates fabrication of custom sizes preferred by architects in new construction and retrofit applications. Solar panels are available in a variety of colors and degrees of optical transmissivity.