A Swedish Algae Factory team has inaugurated a pilot facility to mass produce algae material that can potentially boost silicon solar module efficiency by 4% and thin film by 36%. Algae are added to the encapsulant in silicon-based modules or to the anti-reflective coating on the glass of thin film modules. Resulting modules would be 3.9% cheaper. The algae shells should also reduce the degradation of solar panels over time caused by UV radiation.
www.swedishalgaefactory.com/