Polish firm opens cutting-edge solar energy plant

A Polish company launched the world's first industrial production line of solar panels based on groundbreaking perovskite technology, which could revolutionise access to solar power for all.

Named after the Baltic goddess of the sun, Saule Technologies makes sheets of solar panels using a novel inkjet printing procedure invented by company founder Olga Malinkiewicz. "We're scaling up, going from laboratory to production line," said Malinkiewicz, whose firm is based in the southern city of Wroclaw.

Photovoltaic panels coated with perovskite film are light, flexible and can easily be fixed to almost any surface to produce electricity even inside buildings. Manufacturing costs are down thanks to the inkjet printing procedure for perovskites, which makes it possible to produce the panels under lower temperatures. She said "demand already exceeds production capacity", which is estimated initially at an annual 40,000 square metres (430,550 square feet). "Of all the photovoltaic systems in Europe, only four percent are manufactured on the continent," said Malinkiewicz. "We're on the same page as the European Union when it comes to the importance of building them in our region," she added.

Read morea at Tech Xplore

Image Credit: Saule Technologies

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