Dyesol invests in new Welsh and Australian facilities to fastrack DSC technology

Paul Buckley
Power Management DesignLine Europe
10/08/2008 5:51 PM



Winchester, UK - Dye Solar Cell (DSC) manufacturer Dyesol has opened new manufacturing facilities in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia to enable the company to fast track its commercialisation strategy which aims to take full advantage of the growth in the global solar photovoltaic market which is forecast to be worth $30 billion in 2008.

In addition to increasing its manufacturing capacity in Queanbeyan, Dyesol is also establishing a facility in North Wales, United Kingdom which will be officially opened later this month. The Welsh facility will help support the Dyesol/Corus collaboration that has also been awarded an assistance package by the Welsh Assembly Government, to accelerate the commercialisation of DSC technology onto steel sheeting. Corus is the world's fifth largest steel producer.

The new facilities will enable Dyesol to effectively service its collaboration partners and subsidiary companies operating in UK, Italy, Switzerland, Korea, and Singapore.

Dyesol's Dye Solar Cell (DSC) technology has been termed artificial photosynthesis because it uses a dye analogous to chlorophyll to capture the energy from light, releasing electrons which are captured and conducted as electricity in a nanoparticulate titanium dioxide layer. Dyesol is a leading supplier of all the input materials, test, and manufacturing equipment and related technology to leading research institutes, developers, and major corporate moving to the manufacture of 3rd generation DSC solar panels. At the opening of the new Australian manufacturing facility, Dyesol's Global Managing Director Dr Gavin Tulloch said: “Dyesol will continue to be part of technical collaborations and business partnerships in those countries where companies, research institutes and governments recognise and foster an environment that promotes the rapid commercialisation of DSC technology. Fortunately for Dyesol, DSC is the only third generation technology ready to be scaled up”.

Dyesol Chairman, Richard Caldwell commented: “DSC is the technology for our times. As governments around the world legislate to meet the consequences of global warming, significant new opportunities and new applications are emerging as Dyesol continues to work with more organizations to develop new products including Defence and security applications, the 3Cs market and buildings facades”.

The advantage of Dyesol’s technology over conventional silicon based photovoltaic technology is its lower cost, greater output of electricity in real and low light conditions, and the ability to directly incorporate it into buildings as active electricity generating glass facades or steel roofs.

Dyesol Italia srl recently announced it will partner with Italian utilities giant ERG Renew and the world’s leading façade company, Permasteelisa to develop and commercialise next generation solar panels for buildings.

Similarly, Dyesol has established a joint venture company with Timo Technology in Korea (called Dyesol-Timo) to commercialise DSC products in in Seong Nam city in Gyeonggi province.