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The federal government has invested $2.15 million into Newcastle-based Kardinia Energy to establish a facility to make printed solar cells.
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The next-generation technology has come a long way since University of Newcastle physicist Paul Dastoor began researching conducting polymers in 1996.
The cells are printed on an ultra-lightweight, laminate material, similar in texture and flexibility to a potato chip packet.
They deliver unprecedented affordability at a production cost of less than $10 a square metre.
Professor Dastoor’s team at the Centre for Organic Electronics has been manufacturing the technology on-site at the university since 2012, with the support of the Newcastle Australian National Fabrication Facility Hub.
In 2020, Professor Dastoor partnered with Kardinia Energy’s CEO Anthony Letmon to commercialise the technology.
Coldplay recently collaborated with Kardinia Energy, the technology’s commercialisation partner, as part of its Music of the Spheres world tour.
An array of 500 square metres of printed solar cells was put behind the seats behind the stage and elsewhere in the venue to collect power in battery packs. These batteries were then used to power Coldplay’s C Stage and fulfil other ancillary power needs throughout the venue.
The new Industry Growth Program funding will allow Kardinia to create that first large-scale manufacturing facility at the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER), or close by, within 18 months.
“My dream scenario is that we create a new manufacturing industry here in the Hunter. Newcastle energy solutions delivering products to the region, the country and the world,” Professor Dastoor said.
One of the key benefits of printed solar is its adaptability making it suitable to a range of domestic and commercial applications.
“When you go out to our industrial areas you vast acres of roofs. That’s a vast resource that should tapped into,” Professor Dastoor said.
Industry Minister Tim Ayres said the development of printed solar demonstrated the importance of complementary capacity between the country’s various research organisations.
“The CSIRO, the University Newcastle, the Institute of Energy and Resources, the business community, the National reconstruction fund all need to work together to support each other,” he said.
That’s how we get to answers faster and it puts Newcastle at the centre of the world’s technological development in this area.”
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