Target Market: Grid-Tied Utilities
The worldwide demand for energy is steadily increasing, doubling every 15 years. To sustain this growth without causing irreversible harm to the environment, solar energy has rapidly grown as a clean, renewable alternative to limited fossil fuels.
Originally used primarily for space and rural off-grid applications, the largest market for photovoltaics today is for large scale utility systems connected to the electrical grid.
Thin film photovoltaics are growing rapidly in the face of demand for lower cost modules made from readily available commodities. The largest demand for thin film photovoltaic products in today's markets are for flat plate glass modules that closely emulate the form and function of modules made with costly silicon wafers. Thin film modules have shown to successfully compete on both price and performance in a number of applications, but particularly in centralized utility or "free field" power plant installations and represent the quickest path to grid parity.
The higher efficiencies of CIGS modules compared to alternative thin film technologies will enable wide-scale deployment as the solar electricity market continues to grow. As the relative advantage of CIGS based modules increases due to manufacturing cost declines and performance improvements expected with volume manufacturing, demand for CIGS modules will increase.
DayStar has demonstrated during its development and pilot scale manufacturing operations that producing CIGS modules on glass will generate higher performing modules at a cost that will allow direct entry into current, rapidly growing photovoltaic markets. DayStar believes its proprietary approach to manufacturing CIGS products will significantly advance the use of thin film photovoltaic products as solar energy marches toward competing with all other forms of electrical energy production.
"DayStar believes its proprietary approach to manufacturing CIGS products will significantly advance the use of thin film PV products as solar energy marches toward competing with all other forms of electrical energy production."