Ascent Solar Technologies Inc of Thornton, CO, USA, which makes lightweight, flexible copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic modules integrated into off-grid applications and its EnerPlex series of consumer products, says that its off-grid development partner The Solar Cloth Company (TSCC) of Cambridge, UK has won the 2014 UK Solar Industry Award for Building Integrated Photovoltaic solutions for its product utilizing Ascent Solar’s panels in cloth membrane roofing structures for car-ports.
Using solar cells that weigh less than 3.3kg/m2 (a tenth of the weight of traditional solar panels), The Solar Cloth Company says that its flexible solar panels can be laid over all low-load bearing structures (such as retail centers, distribution centers and data-centers) and can be bonded to most structural fabrics (allowing application in tensile structures, stadia and agricultural land covers).
“With over 320 square miles of roof-space in the United Kingdom which could potentially be integrated with this innovative system; this award further cements the large-scale viability and huge opportunity in this particular distribution channel,” says John Maslanik, Ascent’s manager of business development.
“Being the winner of the Solar Industry Awards’ 2014 BIPV category is a tremendous honor and would not have been possible without Ascent Solar’s photovoltaics, which forms a crucial part of the supply chain and enables TSCC to build the solutions and product we provide,” says Perry Carroll, CEO & founder of The Solar Cloth Company. “Solar PV adoption has typically been slow, but together we have created a truly elegant and lightweight solution which can add real value to sites where solar panels have been previously impossible to use.”
