Konarka is developing a solar fabric with the Swiss university Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Konarka has already demonstrated it can produce a photovoltaic fiber.

 The Company is working with EPFL to optimize the fiber and weave it into the first power-generating fabric. Solar textiles would open up additional application areas for photovoltaics since renewable power generation capabilities can be tightly integrated (they'd be woven in rather than applied/attached to) into things made with fabric, like garments, tents and coverings.

 The Photovoltaic Fibers and Textiles based on the Nanotechnology is expected to yield the first fully integrated woven photovoltaic material. Such material will allow for tighter integration of power generation capabilities into devices, systems and structures beyond what is possible with plastic film.

 "Photovoltaic textiles could positively increase the number of applications available to solar technology by extending integration to objects made from fabrics, such as garments, tents or coverings," said Daniel Patrick McGahn, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Konarka. "We'll be able to offer to the marketplace practical new products, such as wearable power generation for mobile electronics made from the solar fabric."

 As part of its ongoing research and development activities, Konarka has demonstrated that it can produce a working photovoltaic fiber. To weave a fabric, Konarka and EPFL will optimize the strength, thickness and electrical performance of the photovoltaic fiber. In addition, the team will work to interweave fibers so as to maximize the performance of the textile without compromising the fibers' integrity. The goal is to produce a fabric sample with at least a four percent efficiency rating.

 The project is expected to last one year - until around March 2008.

 About:
 Nobel Laureate Professor Alan Heeger (UC Santa Barbara) is the chief scientist for Konarka, and Dr. Michael Grätzel (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) is a senior scientific advisor. Konarka Technologies is headquartered in Lowell, Mass., U.S.A., with research and development subsidiaries in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.