Photovoltaics: SkySentry receives CIGS array from Ascent Solar Technologies
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Holding the module are U.S. Senator Michael
Bennet, Ascent Solar Founder Mohan Misra
and U.S. Senator Mark Udall Pictured (f.l.to r.).
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Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (Thornton, Colorado), a developer of flexible thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules, on September 3rd, 2009 announced that SkySentry LLC, a high
altitude vehicle developer headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, received its first flexible copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide (CIGS) PV array for an upcoming aerostat test in
Sandusky, Ohio, scheduled for mid-September, 2009. The aerostat is part of an Army Space and Missile Defense Command's High Altitude, Long-Endurance Testbed, Ascent Solar reports.
Charles Lambert, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SkySentry, stated: "Power production and storage are the most difficult challenge of operating stationary vehicles
for lengthy periods in the stratosphere. This test will use an aerostat, a tethered blimp, to characterize performance of a solar array on a dynamic platform, understand the performance
of thin film arrays on a buoyant vehicle in terms of temperature and impact on an inflated substrate, determine the consistency of solar output for high altitude applications and
quantify the effect of clouds and variable weather on performance of an aerostat-mounted array."
Testing of photovoltaics on an aerostat
According to the press release, corollary benefits include comparing high efficiency solar array deployments on aerostats as primary or supplementary power generation with other
technologies such as off-shore power generation with wind turbines. "This shipment represents our first delivery of flexible monolithically integrated CIGS PV specifically for airship
experimentation", Ascent Solar's President and CEO Farhad Moghadam commented. "SkySentry's testing of our photovoltaics on the aerostat, along with advanced power management, will
demonstrate their approach towards an important application for national security and surveillance applications."
2009-09-08 Courtesy: Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. Solarserver.de © Heindl Server GmbH
Picture Courtesy: Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc.
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