Konarka to Acquire Solar Technology

[zavvy]

<b>Konarka to Acquire Solar Technology</b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />Konarka Technologies, a start-up solar power company based in Lowell, Mass., is expected to announce today that it has acquired from Siemens of Germany the technology to print power cells on flexible sheets of plastic. <br /><br />Konarka also hired the Siemens research team that developed the organic solar technology, as the plastic films are known.<br /><br />Such solar cells would, in theory, be cheaper to make and more versatile than the most widely used solar power systems, which employ rigid sheets of crystallized silicon to convert sunlight to electricity. So far, cells made with plastic have been too inefficient to compete with conventional power sources like coal-fired plants.<br /><br />Siemens previously announced that it had achieved 5 percent energy conversion using organic solar technology, a record for the materials but less than a third the rate of standard silicon cells. The company predicted that its technology could be marketed as early as next year in portable devices to recharge cellphones.<br /><br />Konarka said terms of the deal would not be disclosed.<br /><br />