NanoGram Corporation receives award from US Department of Energy recognizing photovoltaic technology innovation
(Technology News, 16 Jun 2008 )
NanoGram Corporation, a leading developer and licensor of core advanced materials process technology, tools and solutions for optical, electronic and energy applications, has been awarded an Energy Innovator Award from the US Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
The award recognizes businesses, individuals and governmental agencies that have successfully developed or deployed energy efficiency and/or renewable energy technologies, services or policies.
NanoGram is developing a breakthrough crystalline silicon-based solar module manufacturing process that dramatically reduces module cost to the level of thin film photovoltaics while delivering high efficiency. The process leverages NanoGram's proprietary laser reactive deposition(LRD(tm)) technique, which drives down PV module costs by reducingsilicon consumption to less than 25 percent compared to typical wafer-based approaches. Significant cost reductions generated using this approach are expected to bring module costs well below $1.00/Wp when high volume manufacturing production levels are reached in 2012.
An R&D pilot plant is currently under construction at NanoGram's headquarter facilities in Milpitas, CA, and is expected to generate approximately 25 new high-tech jobs.
