Solarmer Achieves 7.9 Percent NREL Certified Plastic Solar Cell Efficiency

Solarmer Energy, Inc. employees are in high spirits after receiving news of their latest NREL certified plastic solar panel efficiency of 7.9%. Several accomplishments of this magnitude have made 2009 a great year for Solarmer, including achievements in manufacturing, plastic solar cell and module efficiency, and awards. This achievement also holds very special meaning to the founders of the company, dating back to before the company started.

In 2005, founders Woolas Hsieh, Edward Chen and Jennifer Yu had a dream of creating a company that would provide the world with an affordable way to generate clean energy and would help solve the energy problem. In 2006, plastic solar panel developer Solarmer Energy, Inc. was born into the emerging organic photovoltaic industry. Just three years later, Solarmer took the reins of plastic solar panel efficiency and is now running away with it.

“This achievement firmly establishes Solarmer’s leadership in the OPV industry”, said Hsieh, Solarmer’s president. “Our efforts in R&D have now put us in a great position to launch a competitive product based on plastic solar panels.”

As a result of their progress, Solarmer has received several awards from organizations including FlexTech Alliance, Office of Naval Research and the Department of Energy in the last 12 months. Breaking two efficiency world records (plastic solar cell and plastic solar module) played a big role in Solarmer winning these awards. They have also worked hard to complete their pilot manufacturing line and have announced that it will be operational next quarter. Outside of these developments, Solarmer has joined the Organic Electronics Association (OE-A), and Hsieh was elected to sit on its Board of Directors.

Celebrating its new achievement, Solarmer will showcase their champion solar panels and demos at Printed Electronics USA 2009Photovoltaics 2009, located in San Jose, CA on Dec. 2-3. Dr. Yue Wu will present the record breaking data at this conference, while Dr. Gang Li will be giving his own presentation on Solarmer’s latest results at the Material Research Society’s Fall Meeting from Dec. 1-3 in Boston, MA.