Ascent Solar Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art, lightweight and flexible thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solutions, announces that the company has successfully developed and shipped its next-generation laminated aerospace product, using Ultralight technology. The Ultralight PV module represents a major breakthrough over its industry-leading Superlight technology in terms of weight and performance for ready-to-integrate PV modules for aerospace applications, such as high-altitude airships. The value proposition of Ultralight has been validated in terms of a major contract from a European-based customer.
The shipment is valued over $300K and was delivered ahead of schedule before the end of the first quarter of 2018. This substantial sale equates to approximately 50% of the Company’s 2017 full-year revenue. The Ultralight PV module is the first of its kind for Ascent Solar to introduce two major advances over previous products. First, Ultralight utilizes next-generation PV that was developed originally for Ascent’s space customers and is manufactured on a substantially thinner substrate than Ascent’s standard bare PV module.
Secondly, the product utilizes asymmetric laminate packaging to reduce thickness and weight substantially from its predecessor, the Superlight product. These changes have resulted in vastly-reduced areal density to nominally 330 grams per square meter, or approximately 50% less than ‘thin’ crystalline PV airship options. Nominal specific-power under terrestrial (AM1.5) lighting is 280 watts per kilogram and projected to exceed 330 watts per kilogram in near-space conditions (AM0). The PV modules that were provided to the customer in this shipment are designed for easy integration to reduce assembly time of the power system and increase overall array reliability.
More information can be found at www.AscentSolar.com.
