SunPower's Solar Cells Designed Into Futuristic 'BioHaus' Building Facade

Nov 19 - Business Wire

First Building Integrated Photovoltaic System Using A-300 Solar Cells Inaugurated in Germany

SunPower Corp., a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:CY), today announced completion of the first Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic (BIPV) system using its A-300 high efficiency solar cells. The office building, which opened today, is located in Paderborn, Germany, and is being occupied by BioHaus, a manufacturer and distributor of solar-electric modules and inverters.

SunPower's A-300 silicon solar cells -- which generate 25-30 percent more power than conventional solar cells -- were encapsulated between sheets of glass by Saint Gobain Glass Solar and integrated into the building's rounded south facade. The building also features solar panels on its southeast and southwest walls and roof. The SunPower glass/glass modules will generate up to 1.8 kW of energy for the building.

"The new BioHaus building is an environmental showpiece, combining modern photovoltaic technology with advanced energy-saving design," said Peter Aschenbrenner, vice president of sales and marketing at SunPower, Corp. "SunPower's solar cells were selected not only for their outstanding area efficiency, but also due to their unique appearance. Unlike conventional blue-tinted solar cells, SunPower's A-300 solar cells have a neutral near-black color favored by many architects. In addition, the A-300's all-back contact design avoids the use of highly visible reflective metal interconnects between cells, further improving aesthetics."

"We see a clear trend toward more highly integrated BIPV systems because they allow the building envelope to actively reduce electrical consumption," said Jorn Jurgens, BIPV manager at SunPower Corp. "By integrating the world's most-efficient solar cells from Sun Power into an architecturally pleasing building design, BioHaus has shown that companies can enjoy the energy independence and environmental benefits of solar without sacrificing aesthetics."

"The A-300 is truly the most unique solar cell I've ever used throughout more than 500 projects that I've been involved with," said Christof Erban, director of sales and marketing at Saint Gobain Glass Solar. "Not only does its performance and easy handling impress me, but its absolutely homogenous black velvet appearance fascinates me most. I expect this cell to be very present in the building integration market as it combines the highest electrical performance with outstanding aesthetics."

About A-300

SunPower's A-300 solar cell features a unique, all-back-contact design that maximizes working cell area, hides unsightly wires and simplifies automated production. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently measured the A-300 solar cell's power efficiency at an industry-best 21.5 percent; where competing production cells typically measure in the 12- to 15-percent range. The solar cell's low voltage-temperature coefficient, exceptional low-light performance and high sensitivity to light across the entire solar spectrum enable the A-300 to convert virtually every accessible photon into useable electricity, maximizing annual energy production.

Photo

A photo of the BioHaus building (Source: BioHaus) can be downloaded from: http://www.cypress.com/support/link.cfm?mr=biohaus.

About SunPower

SunPower -- a majority-owned subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) -- designs and manufactures high-performance silicon solar cells based on an interdigitated all-back-contact design. The company's initial products were put to use in a variety of high-performance applications, including the NASA-sponsored AeroVironment airplane, "Helios," that flew to a record altitude of 96,863 feet on August 13, 2001. SunPower manufactures its high-performance A-300 solar cells in a new facility outside of Manila, the Philippines. The company currently operates a 25 MW production line there, and is planning to ramp production to more than 100 MW. For more information on SunPower or solar technology, please visit the SunPower website at http://www.sunpowercorp.com.

About Cypress

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) is Connecting from Last Mile to First Mile(TM) with high-performance solutions for personal, network access, enterprise, metro switch and core communications-system applications. Cypress Connects(TM) using wireless, wireline, digital, and optical transmission standards, including USB, Fibre Channel, SONET/SDH, Gigabit Ethernet and DWDM. Leveraging its process and system-level expertise, Cypress makes industry-leading physical layer devices, framers, and network search engines, along with a broad portfolio of high-bandwidth memories, timing technology solutions and reconfigurable mixed-signal arrays. More information about Cypress is accessible online at www.cypress.com.

About Saint Gobain Glass Solar

Saint Gobain Glass Solar, founded in 1999 as a 100 percent subsidiary of Saint Gobain Deutsche Glass Corp., manufactures custom designed solar panels for building integration. The patented Prosol(R) resin embedding technology provides the opportunity to combine solar cells with all the various building glass products the glass industry supplies. Double functions of photovoltaic in combination with double glass, safety glass, sound protection and/or coated glass types are possible. Well over 500 projects, mostly in North America, Europe and Asia made SGG Solar the world market leader in photovoltaic building integration. For more detailed information, please contact Christof.Erban@Saint-Gobain.com.

Cypress and the Cypress logo are registered trademarks of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. "Connecting from Last Mile to First Mile," and "Cypress Connects" are trademarks of Cypress. SunPower is a trademark of SunPower Corp. Prosol is a registered trademark of SGG Solar. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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