Our Track Record
NovaSolar's core technical team is the technical team that founded OptiSolar. OptiSolar accomplished the fastest commercialization record in the industry—with substantial production less than 3 years after the company was first founded. It also achieved leading yield, uptime, cost and reliability results for thin-film silicon. That same process took some of our major competitors more than a decade.
During that three year period, the company achieved many important technological breakthroughs largely unknown to the industry, such as:
- Designed and commercialized one of the world's most advanced fully automated a-Si thin film PV module production line, especially our industry leading proprietary high frequency PECVD system, achieving significant lower equipment cost while improving module quality, performance and reliability, compared to other leading equipment makers.
- Commercialized industry's first and only SINGLE SHEET TEMPERED GLASS module. This module has NO FRAME, NO EVA lamination and NO BACK SHEET of GLASS. Instead, it has a proprietary hermetic seal and polymer back coat, and an all-aluminum interconnect. These proprietary features minimize module cost and weight and maximize reliability. They also provide excellent mechanical strength and durability, and enhance ease of handling.
- In a short a period of time, we were selected over many larger and better known solar companies by utility companies like PG&E, Southern California Edison, Los Angeles Power, Phoenix Electric and governments like Ontario Power Authority for solar farm contract awards of 800MW. We also have favorable consideration on the short list for another 1,200MW of solar farm projects, many of which awarded after months of extensive due diligence by the utility companies, demonstrating our leading position in the industry as such as young company.
- When the Financial Tsunami hit the world's financial markets in late 2008, OptiSolar's investors decided to seek liquidity, and consequently sold all of its backlog solar farm contracts to First Solar, valuing the backlog at US$400M, the first such deal for First Solar, which initiated its path to vertical integration.
