The partnership between Dyesol and Corus to develop and industrialize dye solar cells (DSC) on coil steel has achieved the seventh milestone of the joint program under the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) contract.

The project, supported by the WAG with more than £5 million, has now passed its seventh milestone and continues to be well ahead of schedule. At the Milestone 7 review held recently with WAG in the joint PV Accelerator at the Corus Shotton site, Dyesol and Corus showed the processes used to produce modules already manufactured on the pilot production line and demonstrated the long-term accelerated testing and outdoor weathering facilities that are now being used to evaluate the panels.

The Alpha Model program, now in its third month, has completed two production runs for conformance testing on the roll-to-roll pilot line. During this phase over the next few months the processes are being refined and new tooling and automation are being introduced to enhance reproducibility and manufacturability of the roll-to-roll facility. The product being manufactured in each stage of the programme is then subjected to extensive testing at the in-house facilities to establish priorities for the subsequent production trials.

The Alpha Model production activities are being carried out in parallel to the Technical Enhancement programme led by Dr. Tim English of Corus. Dyesol and Corus scientists have developed new materials, processes and designs for insulation, conductors, dye processing and sealing that both enhance performance and reduce design cost.

As previously reported, Dyesol and Corus are addressing a coated steel market of more than 1 billion square meters per annum, in which the annual addressable market for DSC on steel is forecast to be over 200 million square meters of photovoltaic product (or up to 35GW of PV power).

The advantages of DSC in this market include lower cost of manufacturing plant, lower production cost, better performance in normal solar conditions and a range of natural colors. DSC on steel will address the principle value market for PV, fully integrated product in buildings – replacement of the existing skin by building products that produce power. This is the application area that is attracting most attention from regulators.