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- 23/03/2011 - Bailey Fisher assists solar pioneer Eight19 in moving closer to market
Bailey Fisher is delighted to have worked with Cambridge based Eight19 on the appointment of Simon Bransfield-Garth as Chief Executive, following investment of £4.5million by the Carbon Trust and French chemical company Rhodia SA to commercialise the company's OPV technology.
Eight19, the Cambridge-based developer of printed plastic solar cells based on organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology, is ramping closer to commercialisation.
The company has appointed Simon Bransfield-Garth as chief executive. it is also recruiting other key positions.
Dr Bransfield-Garth’s appointment follows the investment of £4.5m by the Carbon Trust and French chemical company Rhodia SA to commercialise OPV technology originally developed at Cambridge University’s world famous Cavendish Laboratory, headed by Sir Richard Friend.
Bransfield-Garth has over 25 years global experience building rapid growth, technology-based businesses in sectors including semiconductor, automotive and mobile phones.
His career includes seven years at Symbian, the phone OS maker, where he was a member of the leadership team and VP global marketing. He was a Fellow at Cambridge University where he also gained his BA and Ph.D in engineering.
Eight19 is developing a new generation of low cost, flexible solar cells that have the potential to dramatically reduce the manufacturing cost and increase the throughput of solar technology, to help address the growing need for renewable power.
Plastic solar cells benefit from being based on abundant materials and can be readily crafted into different shapes and colours to meet market requirements.
Tom Brown, chairman of Eight19 said: “Simon brings a wealth of experience in developing technology-based businesses globally which he will apply to Eight19.”
Eight19 retains close links with the Cavendish Laboratory. Its modules are aimed at new mass markets for solar power generation, from off-grid applications in emerging economies to high volume industrial products.
Organic semiconductors originate from abundant and therefore potentially low cost materials. Their strong light absorption (100 times stronger than silicon), the tunability of the absorption spectrum by chemical synthesis and their deposition from solution under ambient condition resulting in an ultra-thin solar absorber makes them a highly promising materials class for large scale electrical solar power generation.
The power conversion efficiency reported for solar cells based on organic semiconductors already exceeds eight per cent and has shown a strong increase in recent times.
Eight19 is developing a scalable production technology for Plastic Solar Modules. This involves the development of solar cell and module architectures and the appropriate scalable roll-to-roll production technologies.
This article appeared on Business Weekly website