The CIS thin-film solar modules developed by Solar Frontier have been chosen for the ZEN or Zero Energy Nanotechnology building, which is a part of the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute’s Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (SUNY Poly CNSE).
Referred to as the Zen Project, the building will become the world’s largest net zero energy facility in the world and is expected to become a 2.4MW power station.
The building will stand as a living laboratory for the development and observation of renewable energy as well as other energy efficient technologies. The newly-developed CIS thin-film is set to bring Solar Frontier and the ZEN Project to the forefront of industry.
CIS thin-film to become apart of world’s largest zero energy facility
The building will stand as a living laboratory for the development and observation of renewable energy as well as other energy efficient technologies.
Dr. Pradeep Haldar, VP of Entrepreneurship Innovation and Clean Energy Programs over at CNSE, stated that the new ZEN building will function as a primary platform to test and show how cutting-edge clean technologies may lead to higher energy savings (and thus financial savings) for buildings.
In order to achieve these goals, CNSE chose Solar Frontier’s CIS thin-film solar panels. The CIS (copper, indium, selenium) solar panels pose a higher number of benefits for the environment as well as better energy returns.
The CIS thin-film panels have a much higher shading tolerance and they also possess anti-glare properties. These thin film panels also have the highest energy efficiency rating in comparison to all other thin film panels in the market, with an energy payback rate of just one year.
CSI thin-film panels boast unseen energy payback rate
In comparison to this, one of the latest solar farms in New South Wales, Australia has an energy payback rate of four years.
The ZEN building will not only be a new facility for the development of new solar power technology but it will also be an ongoing experiment which will allow investors and other researchers to visually witness the capabilities of higher level solar technologies.
If proven successful with a higher conversion efficiency rating and a successful payback rate to cut down the building’s energy expenses then the same technology might be adapted on a wider scale.
CIS thin-film technology brings Solar Frontier to the forefront of industry in 2015
The CIS thin-film announcement places Solar Frontier on a roll for 2015. The company also announced that it would begin construction of a solar power plant (15MW) at a former golf course in Nakagawa, Japan. This new project will make use of 120,000 165W panels from Solar Frontier.
It will also be the very first time that small 20kW capacity inverters will be in use in a megasolar facility in the country. This solar farm will be powerful enough to provide energy for 3,700 homes or 21,000,000kWh every year. This will also prevent a total of 11,000 tons of emissions every year.
Solar Frontier has been one of the pioneers of CIS thin-film technology and has been in constant development to improve its CIS thin-film technology for the past 2 decades. It is also constructing a new solar powered manufacturing facility in Japan designed to cut down panel costs.
As a sign of the company’s major success, Solar Panel achieved a 20.9% conversion efficiency on a CIS cell (0.52cm2) early in 2014. This conversion rate is the highest in history and beats the former record of 19.7%.
