The Taiwan government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) on December 18 signed an agreement to transfer DSSC (dye-sensitized solar cell) manufacturing technology to Formosa Plastics.
Formosa Plastics began DSSC R&D cooperation with the Green Energy and Environment Laboratories under ITRI three years ago, and is expected to start DSSC volume production as soon as 2015, ITRI indicated.
Taiwan has advantages in DSSC production because materials and equipment for making organic PV products can be locally sourced without imports or foreign licensing, ITRI said.
Although DSSC has comparatively low energy conversion rates, its power generation is not affected by sunlight incident angles or environmental temperatures, and can work indoors, ITRI noted. In addition, the cost of DSSC production equipment and production costs for DSSC panels are relatively low compared with other types of PV products, ITRI indicated.
As DSSC panels are flexible and transparent and can produced in different shapes and colors, DSSC is suitable for BIPV (building-integrated PV) solutions, ITRI noted.