The FabriGen project, which involved six partners from four different countries manufactured the demonstrator that combines flexible OPV materials with tensile fabrics utilizing roll to roll production techniques. As much as 16 m2 of active-area material was made for the final demonstrators.

The aim of project FabriGen was to work towards Europe’s ambitious targets for renewable energy generation by bringing new innovative solar energy products to market. The development of organic photovoltaics with flexible form factors opens up a host of opportunities for designers to embed energy harvesting and functionality into their products, creating the opportunity for new, innovative solar panels that are thinner, lightweight large area and potential lower cost.

The flexible nature of OPV provides a number of advantages to the solar power industry. The ability to produce the panels on fabric or plastic surfaces means that complex shapes and structures can be designed to maximise solar collection. In addition the technology will enable the production of large area panels to be manufactured in a cost and resource efficient manner, promising to bring the cost of solar power on par with that of conventional energy. FabriGen focused on developing the technology for applications such as, large scale tensile membrane structures for example ‘The Millennium Dome’ and Stadia covers, and smaller scale permanent installations such as solar car park covers, marquees, walkways and textile facades for buildings. A key aspect of the research was the development and integration of barrier encapsulation layers to provide the long-life performance that is needed for outdoor use.

Dr David Bird, Senior Scientist at CPI said: “The FabriGen consortium has been able to successfully produce a large area working prototype, a significant achievement in the development of low cost, flexible organic photovoltaics. The use of an ITO free front contact facilitated the fabrication of the flexible device. The next steps are focused on upscaling the OPV Fabric to a price point that enables volume