LIFE Dyemond Solar

EXEGER

We developed a printable indoor solar cell and integrated it into consumer products like tablets and wireless headphones, recharging them with light. We founded Exeger in 2009 and support from the LIFE programme greatly helped scale up our operations. Our company now employs 75 people and is growing rapidly.

Larger with Life

From 2010-2015, the EU LIFE Programme invested €1.7 million in the €3.5 million Dyemond Solar project to roll out a new generation of light, flexible and environmentally friendly solar cells that use dyes instead of crystals to harness energy from ambient light. The facility has demonstrated that these solar cells can prove economically viable to power consumer goods, paving the way for their production on an unprecedented scale and supporting EU reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

EU added value

• Clean energy for consumer products
• Created 75 jobs in technology
• Innovative edge for EU industry

Prospects

• Engage renewable energy consumers
• Cut CO2 emissions from electronics
• Disrupt consumer electronics markets

Achievements

• Built the largest factory for dye-sensitized solar cell in the world - up to 40 million units a year
• Demonstrated the scalability and economics of screen printing third-generation solar cells
• Eliminated toxic emissions, keeping manufacturing operations based in central Stockholm
• Entered talks with the world’s largest consumer electronics manufacturers
• Claimed the Green Award for the best LIFE project on climate action in 25 years

Policy support

• Boost the share of renewables in the EU energy mix in line with the climate and energy package
• Drive the uptake of solar to meet the latest targets of the EU Renewable Energy Directive
• Support a modern clean economy driven by the new industrial policy strategy in Europe