‘Free-form’ organic PV

From pv magazine France

French thin-film solar specialist Armor has started manufacturing organic PV films that can be made into different shapes.

It was able to launch production because it combined its full-width modules with a coating developed by a team based in La Chevrolière, France. Its production technology, including laser structuring, is being implemented by its German team. The company acquired the latter with the takeover of Opvius, based in Kitzingen and Nuremberg.

Armor claims this new combination will allow it to multiply the application prospects for its ASCA photovoltaic film tenfold. Thanks to free-form technology, ASCA organic film can now take any form, made-to-measure, or with specific “designs” to support the high added value choices of designers and architects.

Armor said it benefits from an industrial production capacity of 1 million m2 per year, which now includes the production of free-form modules. In classic OPV production, the shape of the final product is determined in the first production step. In the process by Opvius, all structure-forming steps are performed after the substrate sheets have been coated.