In a joint development project, THEVA is helping its Spanish partner Oxolutia S.L. in the development of cheap, flexible solar cells. Making use of its expertise in superconductor manufacturing, the company is providing textured buffers layers on steel foil. The background to this is that many applications require virtually monocrystalline oriented functional layers to give maximum performance. The challenge lies in deploying innovative processes to achieve this quality even on low-cost substrates.

Dr. Werner Prusseit, CEO THEVA GmbH, said of the project, “The photovoltaic market is very cost-sensitive, so a fast and efficient production method is a great advantage. That’s where THEVA comes in. We’re glad to have the opportunity to drive important innovations across industries. In return, we can use the production knowledge that we gain to reduce the costs of our own superconductor manufacturing.”

The project is part of the European Manunet Initiative and is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.