Solar Frontier has been selected to supply its CIS thin-film modules to the Zero Energy Nanotechnology (ZEN) building at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute’s (SUNY Poly) Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE). The company has already initiated the first of a series of deliveries for the ZEN Project. The total project will result in a PV Plant with a capacity of 2.4MW DC. Deliveries are expected to be completed by summer of 2015.
The project is part of a $25 million partnership announced in September by CNSE and Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). The partnership will install, commission, test, and demonstrate state-of-the-art technologies that include solar PV, lighting, fuel cells, and smart building energy management systems.
Dr. Pradeep Haldar, Vice President of Entrepreneurship Innovation and Clean Energy Programs at CNSE, said, “In support of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s high-tech vision driving New York State to become a leader in advanced research and clean technologies, the ZEN building will serve as a platform to demonstrate how leading-edge, clean-tech systems enable greater energy savings in buildings. For this pioneering effort we have selected Solar Frontier’s CIS modules as one of the technologies to help get us there.”
The 356,000 square-foot ZEN building, which is currently under construction at the state-of-the-art $20 billion Albany NanoTech Complex, will be one of the largest net zero energy buildings in the world, and will serve as a “living laboratory” for renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. It will be used to design ultra-high energy efficient technologies which can be adopted to cut the operating costs of buildings in New York State and around the world.
In urban environments Solar Frontier’s CIS modules have a number of performance benefits. For example, they are less affected by shadow cover from nearby objects like buildings or other module arrays, leading to more kWh than competitors in crowded urban areas. On top of their all-black aesthetics, their anti-glare properties are also more suitable for crowded urban environments where sun glare can have significant negative effects on the surrounding area and its inhabitants.