Sydney, 22 January 2015 – Today, Dyesol Limited and EFACEC of Portugal have completed due diligence and signed an agreement to exploit proprietary, laser assisted, glass frit sealing technology developed by EFACEC and the University of Porto in the manufacture of glass substrate, solid-state DSC (ssDSC) solar panels.
As a first instalment, Dyesol will pay EFACEC €500,000 over a 15 month period during which the technology will be modified for use in perovskite based photovoltaics. Staged payments will be milestone based with successful achievement of the final technical specification triggering a further payment schedule of €1.7 million over 24 months. A further €2.8 million is payable as a royalty pending the commercialisation of the process in Dyesol’s proposed solar panels and modules. The structured financial transaction has a potential maximum total consideration of €5 million after which the ownership of the IP will be fully assigned to Dyesol.
The low temperature, laser-assisted sealing technology has already demonstrated excellent performance in both low temperature applications and high-speed processing. Hermetic sealing, which provides panel integrity for both oxygen and moisture, is the essence of durability and long life.
Dyesol believes that this technology is an essential element in its entry strategy for both the PV and BIPV markets. It also believes that ssDSC will be sufficiently low-cost and durable to compete effectively with incumbent PV technologies in a wide range of applications.
Mr Ian Neal, Dyesol chairman commented: “Durability is the greatest technical challenge in the PV market. This proprietary sealing technology has the potential to deliver 20 year plus life to solid-state DSC products in multiple applications, including BIPV, and we are very excited about its commercial prospects.” Dyesol is on schedule to produce demonstration prototype panels in 2016, leading to mass production in 2018.
