News
NGPV on Youtube
@NextGenPV
Fall Industry Advisory Board meeting was held at the CSU Campus
Thank you to the NSF, our IAB representatives, our researchers and the visitors for attending our most recent IAB meeting in Fort Collins, CO from October 13-14, 2015. Please see our IAB Meeting page for further information on this meeting and others in the future.
A copy of the agenda for the meeting can be found here.
October 19, 2015
The DOE Solar Decathlon begins on 10/8/15
The Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition starts on October 8, 2015. NGPV partnered with the UT Austin-TUM team, Nexus Haus, to provide support where possible and the competition is finally about to get underway. Attendance is free so those in Irvine, CA should not miss out!
More info is available at NexusHaus.com and here.
October 1, 2015
Center Member First Solar sees 65% growth in revenue
Per BloombergBusiness, First Solar's stock rose 17 percent to $51.92 at the close in New York, the most since March 2014 and the biggest increase on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. According to analysts, their production for 2015 is sold out with 2016 nearing the same.
August 5, 2015
Open to the Public: PV Balance of Systems Webinar
On December 1, 2015 at 4:00 PM Central, Balance of Systems expert and Texas A&M site co-director, Russ Porter, presented, “The I to I (Inception to Implementation) Model for Balance of System Solar Research.” The talk was open to the public. [Click here for abstract.]
A recording of the talk can be found here on our YouTube channel.
December 2, 2015
EPRI joins the Center!
Please join us in welcoming our newest Center member, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
UT Austin faculty member and Center researcher, Dr. Surya Santoso, has a strong working relationship with EPRI and they are pleased to continue this relationship with Dr. Santoso and to start a new one with our Center. Welcome, EPRI!
August 20, 2015
CSU site earns I-Corps Award
NGPV alum, Davis Hemenway, and CSU's Associate Site director, Kurt Barth, received an NSF I-Corps team award titled "Advanced Computational Simulation for Thin Film Manufacturing." The team will be joined by John Favier in San Francisco for the January kick-off meeting of the entrepreneurial training to investigate the commercial applications of the simulation technology.
This marks the second I-Corps team directly related to the Center. The first team spawned now Center member, Lucelo Technologies.
December 9, 2015
CSU makes breakthrough
A collaborative team of CSU NGPV researchers including Amit Munshi, Jason Kephart, Jen Drayton and Kevan Cameron has recently fabricated high efficiency CdTe devices on commercially available window glass. The champion measured at 17.9% efficiency with high device currents of over 26 mA/sq cm and near record fill factor approaching 79%. The fabrication processes were high speed and have a direct line of sight to large scale manufacturing.
December 9, 2015
Caption: Current voltage curve for CSU high efficiency device
Summer IAB Quarterly Update
Our IAB Quarterly Update took place on July 14, 2015. Researchers from both sites provided updated information on the current Center projects and additional information regarding Texas A&M's progress was provided to the members.
July 15, 2015
NGPV Receives Phase II Award from NSF
We are very pleased to announce that the NSF has funded our Center for an additional five years. The official start date for our Phase II award is July 15, 2015. At the end of this five year period, we are eligible to submit an application for a third Phase.
July 1, 2015
Next Energy Technologies joins the Center!
Please join us in welcoming Next Energy Technologies, Inc. to the Center!
Next Energy has a strong focus on organic photovoltaics and will be initially collaborating on research opportunities with Dr. Steve Strauss of Colorado State University.
June 29, 2015
Texas A&M Site Planning Meeting
Congratulations to Co-Directors Robert Balog and Russell Porter of Texas A&M University on hosting an excellent meeting in College Station this week. Everything went off without a hitch and there was a real energy amongst the attendees. We look forward to the coming months when the site proposal is officially submitted and continued collaborations through the Center with Texas A&M and their member companies. Additionally, thank you to our IAB Chair, Raju Jairam, and Colorado State's Site Director, W.S. Sampath, for attending the meeting as well.
June 25, 2015
Postdoctoral Researcher Positions Filled
Thank you to those who applied for the postdoctoral positions that were open within the Center. We appreciate the time and effort you put into applying and also want to extend our thanks to those who provided letters of reference. Please keep an eye on this space for future opportunities to work with us.
June 1, 2015
NGPV Researchers Partner with UT-TUM Solar Decathlon team, NexusHaus.
The team is preparing a prototype Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) as part of the Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition taking place in Irvine, CA this October. NGPV is now looking for industry sponsors interested in participating in the effort.
More info is available at NexusHaus.com and here.
May 5, 2015
Center Meeting Updates
Texas A&M's Planning Meeting will take place over June 23-24, 2015 in College Station, TX. The agenda for the meeting can be found here.
May 1, 2015
New Member Update: Ideal Power Inc. joins the Center
Please join us in welcoming Ideal Power to the Center! Ideal Power is an Austin-based company with a strong focus on power converters. Researchers from UT Austin's Center for Electromechanics will work closely with Ideal Power.
April 6, 2015
Spring IAB Meeting to be held in Austin March 31-April 1
Please see the agenda for our upcoming IAB meeting complete with project titles and more.
Information about our upcoming IAB Meetings can be found at the permanent IAB Meeting page.
March 15, 2015
NGPV alumni and Lucelo Technologies founder Taylor Harvey wins the Energy and Sustainability category at the Austin Challenge Cup
Hosted by venture firm 1776, the Challenge Cup takes place in different cities before the winners advance to the Washington Challenge Festival to compete against the rest of the country. Taylor graduated in December 2014 and spun Lucelo Technologies out from the Center. The finals will take place in May.
Read more about Lucelo and their win here.
March 1, 2015
NGPV partners with the University of Texas|TU Munich "NexusHaus" Solar Decathlon team
The Center is looking for industry sponsors who are interested in participating within their efforts. More info is available at NexusHaus.com.
February 17, 2015
New Member Update: Younicos Inc. joins the Center
Please join us in welcoming Younicos to the Center! Younicos AG is an industry leader in Europe and is hoping to expand their reach within the United States. They acquired Texas-based Xtreme Power in 2014.
February 17, 2015
IAB Quarterly Update Call
To bridge the gap between our bi-annual meetings that take place in person, the Center holds a Quarterly Update virtual meeting to bridge the gap. The Center held its bi-annual Quarterly Update on January 28, 2015.
February 2, 2015
Innovative Managing Director Heath Naquin gives talk at I/UCRC Annual Director's Meeting
Heath participated in two panels at last week's 2015 Annual Director's Meeting. The first, during the Pre-Conference Workshop, involved Heath serving as one of the presenters on Building I/UCRC Membership and IAB Engagement while the second was a focused talk related to I/UCRCs: Resiliency Through Adversities. The two presentations can be found here and here.
January 12, 2015
Brian Korgel to present at the UT Energy Symposium
Center Director, Brian Korgel, will give a talk on Next Generation Photovoltaic Technologies at 5:15 PM CST on February 5, 2015 as a part of the UT Energy Symposium (UTES) series.
This talk, and past talks from the series, can be viewed here.
The talk will be broadcast live and archived afterwards for later viewing.
January 5, 2015
Looking for older news?
News from 2014 can be accessed from the bar at the top of the page or by clicking here.
January 1, 2015