Konarka Technologies has announced that the National Energy Renewable Laboratory (NREL) has certified that Konarka's organic based photovoltaic (OPV) solar cells have demonstrated a record breaking 8.3% efficiency.

This is the highest performance recorded by NREL for an organic photovoltaic solar cell.

"The progress Konarka has achieved this year with regard to solar cell efficiency is unprecedented, representing a significant milestone for the industry," commented Howard Berke, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Konarka.

"This unsurpassed NREL certification opens new doors for the commercial production of cost-effective, efficient electricity for numerous large scale applications."

Konarka Power Plastic is a patent-protected thin film solar material that converts light to energy. The unique material is lightweight and flexible, lending itself to a wide range of applications where traditional photovoltaics are not effective.

The latest certification results are for Konarka's large area single-junction solar cell with a surface area of 1 square centimeter.

This efficiency rating far exceeds previous single-junction organic photovoltaic cell measurement on that surface area and represents the world record for OPV efficiency.

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