SBIR-STTR Award

Commercial buildings consume 40% of total U.S. energy demand. Studies have shown that successfully integrating solar modules into building fa?es can substantially reduce the net building energy load depending on location, orientation, and time of year. Our Company brings with it 20+ years of critical intellectual property development on thin film organic solar cells, and we have subcontracted with a building fa?e technology leader to design, develop, manufacture, and market the first U.S. building integrated organic solar modules. n Phase I our Team will demonstrate flexible organic solar sheets (available in a variety of sizes and colors) and map out mechanical and electrical integration into complete building fa?e assemblies. We will validate the integrated cost and low weight of the modules and model the complete cost/benefit to capitalize on the projected high efficiency (>19 %) and low cost ($0.23 per Watt) of building integrated organic solar modules at scale. Benefit and cost saving projections will take into account the structure that organic solar fa?es naturally provide - with the correct choice of protective layers or films in combination with the building-integration mounting system, our modules can provide rain-screening, wind-screening, sound-proofing, wind load resistance, and ageing resistance, while offering residual structural integrity to the building. We will also develop a manufacturing roadmap and finalize pilot manufacturing equipment design. In Phase II our Team will complete the overall system design and scale this technology to assemble demonstration fa?e systems on buildings in the Phoenix area where our subcontractor already has the needed architectural, building owner, and general contractor relationships. The economics of solar building cladding are attractive and point towards a market the U.S. should lead. While European and Asian competitors have already begun trials of integrated organic solar in building fa?e configurations, no U.S. manufacturer has developed or trialed organic solar modular fa?e assemblies. Our Company aims to initially overtake and lead these competitors in the U.S. market and then expand worldwide. We will have a competitive advantage utilizing our Team?s small molecule organic solar technologies due to their superior solar conversion efficiency, generating more power per square foot for the building. Our subcontracter brings its existing cladding designs along with its existing customer base to accelerate demonstrations and scale up to buildings in Phoenix and nation-wide. We estimate cumulative sales and licensing revenue of $13.4B during the first 10 years of commercialization.

The purpose of this DOE SBIR program is to develop commercially viable building-integrated organic photovoltaic technology to substantially reduce the net building energy load. The main advantages of organic photovoltaics in building integration are flexibility of shape and color to ensure aesthetic appeal, along with extremely low manufacturing costs and competitive performance compared with existing commercial solar panels. NanoFlex Power Corporation and its partner True Metal Solutions will demonstrate commercial viability of organic photovoltaics manufacturing with the first “plug-and-play” building-integrated organic solar modular cassettes by leveraging NanoFlex’s extensive organic photovoltaic technology portfolio along with the architectural cladding and building industry expertise of our sub-contracting partners. We demonstrated the ability to fabricate both rigid and flexible organic solar sheets in a way that is scalable to both high throughput sheet-to-sheet manufacturing processes and roll- to-roll manufacturing. Our building-integration partners developed and demonstrated a low-cost cassette design that is easily scalable and manufacturable, improving overall system economics. Organic photovoltaic modules NanoFlex Power developed during Phase I program are already competitive in performance with current commercial amorphous silicon solar modules and also outperform main organic solar manufacturers/competitors, making our development more attractive for building integration. Our team developed a rigorous cost model that combines building-integrated organic solar panel manufacturing, installation, and building material offset costs to predict a levelized cost of energy of $0.04/kWh, which is in line with the 2030 SunShot goals for commercial solar. Our Phase II effort will focus on improving the packaging of organic solar sheets towards commercial building-integrated solar panels certification requirements, scaling up pilot manufacturing to meet production cost targets, building-integrated organic photovoltaic cassette development and qualification, along with extensive field testing of OPV cassette installations. We also plan to further improve the technical performance of our organic solar modules to exceed our competition. Main commercial applications include building façades and any vertical and/or curved architectural structures. Main public benefit is significant reduction in energy consumption that is environmentally friendly and aesthetically flexible. The non-toxic composition of organic photovoltaics is an important benefit for manufacturing workers, building façade installers, and building owners and occupants.