The Scandinavian-German manufacturer Innotech Solar (ITS) has been awarded the "Innovativ durch Forschung" ("Research-Driven Innovations") seal for its outstanding commitment to research and development.
The company, which uses an innovative and particularly environmentally friendly process to manufacture solar modules with an exceptionally low carbon footprint, was presented with the seal by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Association for German Science).
"Less than one percent of the 3.5 million companies in Germany are engaged in research. These select few belong to an extremely important group, as only research can pave the way for innovation and growth," explains Dr. Andreas Kladroba, managing director of Wissenschaftsstatistik GmbH (scientific statistics) of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.
"Innotech Solar has its own teams of researchers who have an excellent track record of developing new, innovative processes and products and are committed to continuing to do this. Its for this very reason that we have honored the company with our award."
"The name Innotech Solar stands for innovative technology and represents our company's objective of developing and further enhancing the performance of our production procedure through increasing the energy generated and reducing the cost of that energy," states Eckehard Hofmüller, Vice President Technology at Innotech Solar. "One significant achievement that we are very proud of is that the solar modules weve developed have a carbon footprint that is around 50 percent lower than that of conventional modules."
As CO2 levels account for one third of the weighting in French calls for tender, ITS modules enjoy a clear competitive advantage in the bidding process thanks to their excellent carbon footprint. In fact, around 20 percent of the 177 photovoltaics projects approved by the French environment ministry in its first round of tender invitations this year were realized using modules from Innotech Solar. After around only four months in operation, ITS modules have saved the same quantity of CO2 as is used to manufacture them.
A vast number of tests conducted by independent experts, such as the Fraunhofer ISE and CSP Institutes, the Photovoltaik-Institut Berlin and PV Lab, have demonstrated the high performance, durability and positive environmental impact of Innotech Solar modules.
A summary of the carbon footprint study conducted on ITS modules can be found here.
