Konarka’s Power Plastic Achieves 8.3% Efficiency Certification from NREL

Konarka Technologies, Inc., developer of Konarka Power Plastic®, a material that converts light to energy, announced that the National Energy Renewable Laboratory (NREL) has certified that Konarka’s organic based photovoltaic (OPV) solar cells have demonstrated what the company describes as a record breaking 8.3% efficiency. This is said to be the highest performance recorded by NREL for an organic photovoltaic solar cell.

"The progress Konarka has achieved this year with regard to solar cell efficiency is unprecedented, representing a significant milestone for the industry," commented Howard Berke, Chairman, CEO and co-founder of Konarka. "This unsurpassed NREL certification opens new doors for the commercial production of cost-effective, efficient electricity for numerous large scale applications."

Konarka Power Plastic is a patent-protected thin film solar material that converts light to energy. The unique material is lightweight and flexible, lending itself to a wide range of applications where traditional photovoltaics are not effective.

The latest certification results are for Konarka’s large area single-junction solar cell with a surface area of 1 square centimeter.

This efficiency rating is said to far exceed previous single-junction organic photovoltaic cell measurement on that surface area and to represent the world record for OPV efficiency.