NREL Solar Cell Wins Technology Transfer Prize
Source/Type: Reported News

Author: CompoundSemi News Staff

May 11, 2009... The Inverted Metamorphic Multijunction (IMM) Solar Cell was named the NREL's 2009 Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer by the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer. Mark Wanlass of NREL’s Concentrating Photovoltaics (CPV) Group reportedly invented the original IMM cell. The NREL says that the design established a solar cell efficiency of 37.9% under concentrated light equal to 10 suns in 2005.  In 2008, a modified version of the IMM design set a new record of 40.8% efficiency under 326 suns at NREL. Since 2005, NREL and Wanlass have collaborated with Emcore Corp of Albuquerque, New Mexico to develop a commercial version of the IMM cell under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA.)

Commercialized versions of the IMM cell are targeted at the space satellite market and for Earth-based concentrated photovoltaic arrays, which use lenses or mirrors to focus sunlight onto the solar cells. Wanlass and Emcore's director of research and development Paul Sharps will receive the award at a ceremony on May 7 at the FLC national meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina USA. The NREL's solar cell R&D team of Jeff Carapella, Anna Duda, Daniel Friedman, John Gneiss, Sarah Kurtz, Bill McMahon, Tom Moriarty, Andrew Norman, Waldo Olivarez, Jerry Olson, Manuel Romero, Scott Ward, and Michelle Young will share in the award. NREL News Release

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