+ 28.01.2012 + Largest facility in Europe for development of printed organic solar cells.

Eight19, the British clean-tech developer of printed plastic solar cells has commissioned a new development and roll-to-roll printing facility at its Cambridge headquarters. Believed to be the largest facility of its kind in Europe, the facility includes a multi-station roll-to-roll fabrication machine designed to create solar modules at a peak linear speed of over 3.6 kilometres per hour.

Built to Eight19’s specification, the facility provides a flexible development and printing system that can optimise the processes necessary for high volume organic solar cell production. Eight19 is using advanced printing techniques, which keeps the manufacturing cost and energy use low and increases the throughput of the solar modules, creating lightweight, non-toxic and flexible solar modules.

By using the new high-speed facility, Eight19 will be able to create low cost solar power generation that will be used in high volume industrial products as well as Eight19’s pay-as-you-go-solar system, known as IndiGo, for off-grid power generation in emerging economies. Eight19’s IndiGo was launched last year in Kenya (September 2011) and is currently being rolled-out into other parts of Africa and the Indian sub-continent. These products replace poorly performing kerosene lamps which also contribute significantly to ill-health and carbon footprint in emerging economies. According to the World Bank, the replacement market for kerosene lighting is worth over $38Bn world-wide.

Eight19 was founded in 2010 to commercialise the printed organic solar cell technology that was originally developed at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory, a world leader in plastic electronics.

Professor Sir Richard Friend, one of the founders of Eight19 said: “Organic solar cell technology is the one of the fastest improving approaches to solar power with peak reported efficiency more than doubling in the last 3 years. The new facility enables Eight19 to bring this research to practise and develop commercially viable manufacturing for worldwide application.”

Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO of Eight19 said: “In the space of little more than 12 months, Eight19 has moved from a university spin-out to a leading developer of organic solar cell technology. The new high speed roll-to-roll facility underpins the company’s strategy to create solar modules that can be manufactured economically for a wide range of energy generation applications. We are sure that the new manufacturing technique will open up new markets across the world.”

Eight19 expects to have its first commercial printed plastic solar modules available in 2013.

Eight19 2012