The German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Robert Habeck, honors the Leipzig-based company as part of the Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM). WAVELABS founder Dr. Torsten Brammer receives the award for the development of LED sun simulators from Dr. Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection.
Berlin, June 23, 2022 – The Leipzig-based technology company WAVELABS receives the award as a ZIM Cooperation Project 2022 for the development of a novel solar simulator for the photovoltaic industry. The LED-based solar simulator allows photovoltaic companies to test double-sided (bifacial) solar cells and modules continuously, quickly and precisely in production lines. With the Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection promotes market-oriented technological research and development projects of SMEs in Germany. As part of the project, which ran from 2016 to 2019, WAVELABS tested various designs and concepts and took the solar simulator to market launch.
“For characterizing the back of bifacial solar cells, there was a need for a very compact yet powerful light source,” explains Dr. Sascha Esefelder, Head of Product Development at WAVELABS. “In the project, we focused on the ability to flexibly and accurately simulate the light reflected from different surfaces onto the backs of solar modules, while at the same time ensuring very homogeneous illumination of the solar cells.”
Starting in 2016, WAVELABS collaborated with the University of Köthen in Germany and Yeungnam University in South Korea, which provided real-life performance data.
“The measurement of bifacial solar cells with our bifacial solar simulator offers our customers the possibility to classify and deliver their modules with optimized yield according to the specific installation conditions,” Esefelder elaborates.
After successful completion of development in 2019, around 60 percent of all WAVELABS products were already equipped with the bifacial upgrade in 2020. “We receive requests from all over the world for this device. As a result, numerous renowned research and production facilities around the world are using our optical measuring device,” says WAVELABS founder and shareholder Dr. Torsten Brammer, confirming the success of the ZIM cooperation project. “We thank the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection for the opportunity to participate in the ZIM program. In addition to developing a powerful solution that significantly supports a successful energy transition, this project has extremely improved our international position in the highly competitive photovoltaics market.”
The German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection supported the transnational research and development project “Measuring devices and methods for the application-oriented evaluation of bifacial solar cells and modules” from 2016 to 2019 with a grant of 158,564 euros.
