Saule Technologies has launched its first production line of perovskite solar cells - printed on polymer films. The Company has developed a method for making perovskite solar cells at room temperature. The cells can be used on a variety of surfaces - from price tags to building facades and space satellites.
The company sees a great future for the new type of solar cells and expects them to be used on cars, truck tarpaulins, sails, tents, clothing, tablets and laptop cases. Saule Technologies believe that such cells will also power drones and Internet of Things (IoT) devices and writes that the variety of applications for perovskite photovoltaic cells is practically unlimited".
"We're scaling up, going from laboratory to production line," said Dr. Olga Malinkiewicz, co-founder and CEO of Saule Technologies. Manufacturing costs are down thanks to the inkjet printing procedure for perovskites, which makes it possible to produce the panels under lower temperatures.
Malinkiewicz developed the processing method in 2013 while still a PhD student at the University of Valencia in Spain. She says that "demand already exceeds production capacity", which is estimated initially at an annual 40,000 square metres (430,550 square feet).
"We use synthetic perovskites that can achieve considerable efficiency and power and which we don't have to extract from nature," Malinkiewicz said at the factory's inauguration.
The company has received funding from Poland's green energy leader Columbus Energy and multimillionaire Japanese investor Hideo Sawada.
The firm is now preparing to launch on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and is also considering new factories in Europe or perhaps Japan.
