News

15 April 2009

 

Sunovia and EPIR win $9m SBIR award from DoD

Sunovia Energy Technologies Inc of Sarasota, FL and EPIR Technologies Inc of Bolingbrook, IL, USA (in which Sunovia has a stake) have received a $9m Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase III contract from the US Department of Defense (DoD) that allows the expansion of production capacities and capabilities of the partners’ cadmium telluride on silicon (CdTe/Si) manufacturing program.

Sunovia and EPIR claim to be the only firms in the solar energy sector that are capable of growing single-crystal, high-quality CdTe/Si wafers. CdTe/Si growth was pioneered by EPIR's founder, chairman & CEO Dr Siva Sivananthan for infrared imaging applications. After more than 10 years of R&D, the firms have commercialized CdTe/Si wafers, which can drastically cut the cost of infrared cameras for the US military, it is claimed. Most of the research was funded by the Department of Defense, but is resulting in increasing sales in three different market sectors.

The technology is now being adapted for the solar market, and the firms are ahead of schedule in delivering high-efficiency solar cells that can be produced at about one-fifth of the cost of existing high-efficiency solar cells, it is claimed. The speed of commercialization of the solar cells has allowed Sunovia and EPIR to accelerate the marketing of solar power to global utilities and governmental markets. The firms are currently under contract to install 20MW of capacity at the Cibernetique Parque in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Sunovia and EPIR say that they are aware of no competitor in the industry, including CdTe thin-film photovoltaic (PV) module maker First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA and crystalline silicon PV panel maker SunPower Corp of San Jose, CA, USA, that is capable of achieving a comparable cost per Watt.

See related items:

Sunovia finalizes $33m order for EPIR’s MWIR wafers

Sunovia and EPIR improve growth of single-crystal CdTe-on-Si for CPVs

Sunovia and EPIR down-convert UV to visible light in transparent glass for enhanced PV efficiencies

Search: Sunovia EPIR CdTe/Si

Visit: www.sunoviaenergy.com

Visit: www.epir.com