The American inventor Charles Fritts constructed the first solar cell in the 1880s. Although the prototype he built converted less than 1% of light into electricity, it was an important discovery that now, 130 years later, is paving the way for replacing other sources of energy generation.
Today’s solar power technology has an incredible potential to deliver large amounts of energy to the world; however, some of the biggest barriers in the adoption of solar power have been high manufacturing costs and insufficient government support. It’s no wonder that today it accounts for less than 1% of the world’s total energy supply.
BioSolar is hoping to reduce the up-front cost of manufacturing by 50% by using plant materials. “The solar panel demand has been increasing in leaps and bounds over the past 5 years. The U.S. has been a little behind in comparison to the rest of the world, mainly due to the lack of incentives when you compare us to other countries, such as Germany,” said David Lee, president and CEO of BioSolar.
Lee tells us that he believes the United States is going to change and become a leader again. He has seen a trend among companies making more affordable solar panels. His company is one of them. BioSolar’s technology could replace petroleum-based plastics found in photovoltaic (“PV,” or solar cell) components such as the Backsheet, by using castor beans and recycled cotton.
Lee said he started looking into an area that could help the industry, and at the same time become commercially successful. “We looked at existing Backsheets and looked at their specifications. What testing do they have to go through? What durability do they need to pass? And then we looked at existing materials in nature and how some of them had been used for different applications.”
For example, BioSolar looked at nylon 11, a bioplastic that is derived from castor oil and has been used in constructing underwater cables, which are very durable. The company also looked at cotton, which has been used as electrical insulation and has been proven to withstand high temperatures. “We married the two,” Lee explained. “We developed a technology to process them and combine them to make a better and more durable product. Our intellectual property is on how to process those materials,” he added.
BioSolar is gearing up for production soon, according to Lee. “Anytime there is a new component for a photovoltaic module to come out, it has a certain adoption cycle,” he noted. “PV manufacturers already have all the certifications on the required PV modules … If they decided to replace one of their petroleum-based components with ours, which would be the fastest scenario for us, it will probably take a month before they can ramp up their production—in other words, create a demand for our product.”
BioSolar’s technology could be delayed by more than a year if a brand-new PV module technology is introduced to the market. This is because of the testing and certification that new photovoltaic modules have to go through.
Lee hopes to accelerate the adoption of solar energy in the United States and believes that it will eventually compete with fossil fuels. His goal is “to make it greener and make it cheaper.” This could become a reality in the near future. New government incentives are now equal to or exceed those that have existed for years in other nations.
