Borealis/Borouge enter solar market with Quentys

Materials companies Borealis and Borouge have launched Quentys, the new brand to announce their participation in the solar energy industry and to realise “more affordable, reliable, and durable applications”.

Austria-based Borealis and Borouge, a joint venture of Abu Dhabi-based IPIC and Borealis, are leveraging their experience in the energy sector, and forming new strategic partnerships along the entire solar value chain, to deliver, what they say will be, step-change innovations.

As providers of polyolefin compounds for the global wire and cable industry for over 50 years, the companies say they are now widening the scope of their energy industry endeavours to include solar.

By 2025 solar is expected to have the highest global annual capacity added of all energy sources, reaching over 100 Gigawatt (GW) capacity added per year. Borealis and Borouge say they are prepared to meet this rising demand by working with partners and customers around the world to exploit the full potential of solar.

In terms of innovation, new material solutions based on unique and proprietary technologies have been developed for applications such as backsheets and encapsulant films. These step-change innovations in the Quentys family will improve the operational reliability of photovoltaic (PV) modules, reduce processing complexity, and extend the lifetime of PV panels, say the firms.

The first wave of new products developed in partnership with a leading solar industry partner will be launched shortly.

To make the process of making solar panels more affordable, single-step production technologies will reduce manufacturing complexity and thus costs, while innovative materials will increase both output and lifespan of PV modules. These are key to maintaining the market momentum currently enjoyed by renewables, as documented by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

In 2015, the IEA predicted that by 2050, solar will provide 16% of the world’s electric power, significantly more than the 11% it had forecast in 2010. Moreover, the levellised cost – meaning the all-in cost of installing and operating a renewable energy system over its entire lifetime – of electricity for renewables is falling.

Alfred Stern, Borealis Executive Vice President, Polyolefins and Innovation & Technology, said, “Our new Quentys brand will be the foundation for a range of exciting new products and applications that will make solar more affordable and more widely available.”

(PRA)