Established in 2004, MiaSolé is spearheading the solar industry while rendering cutting-edge products to the industry space. The company is a producer of lightweight, flexible, and power solar cells and offers a wide variety of solutions right from the commercial roofing solar panels to the flexible mobile devices.
The journey of Miasolé from a start-up to becoming one of the world’s leading organizations has not been an easy task. The company has emerged from a Silicon-Valley startup and pioneered in thin-film solar panel efficiency with each passing year. In its Sunnyvale, CA facility, it has demonstrated 16% module efficiency in production and 19% cell efficiency in the lab. In December 2012, MiaSolé became a member of the Hanergy family and joined the Hanergy Thin Film Power Group as MiaSolé Hi-Tech. Hanergy provides unparalleled financial, technical, and sales expertise. Since the acquisition, MiaSolé has continued to increase the cell performance as well as to develop new applications for its technology. Today, MiaSolé produces solar cells that range in an efficiency from 16.5-17.5%.
The Leading Light of MiaSolé
A credible and zealous leader having global footprints at multinational corporations is Dr. Jeff Zhou, the CEO at MiaSolé. He is the senior business executive of the company with over two decades of extensive industry experience and holds a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida. Prior to joining MiaSolé, Dr. Zhou was the President of Hanergy Holding America, Inc. (2011-2012) as well as the Vice President of Product Engineering at Nanosolar (2008-2010), and has held more such prestigious positions in various reputed organizations during his life journey. Currently, he serves as the Board member for Monolithic Power Systems, a NASDAQ traded public company.
An Array of Innovative Products
MiaSolé FLEX modules provide seven times the energy by weight compared to silicon modules and its cells and these modules are thin, flexible as well as shatterproof. MiaSolé FLEX modules ship with an industrial adhesive that enables peel-and-stick application with no racking and provides excellent wind resistance making the modules theft resistant too.
SolarRide is the latest product of MiaSolé which consists of the company’s FLEX modules with a specialized charge controller to add solar power to the transportation applications. Typically without its smart charge controller, when the engine is on the alternator uses gas power only, so users don’t get the benefit of the solar contribution when the engine is running. Miasolé’s charge controller is specially designed to prioritize solar energy by displacing the alternator and only uses fuel to provide the remainder of the electricity required. This results in fuel cost savings that adds up over time.
SolarRide offers its users with a 1-2 year payback and a fuel offset of 3% and up to 50 % depending on the type of vehicle. The solution provides other benefits, like keeping a tracking GPS running on an unattended trailer, as well as lessening the need for jump start battery cells and its maintenance due to drivers turning off the engine as it is often required by law while running the air conditioning and other auxiliary functions.
Distinctive Strategies and Success Mantra of MiaSolé
MiaSolé is an expert in providing unique products to its customers which thoroughly overcomes the limitations of traditional glass solar panels. The characteristics of being shatterproof, lightweight, flexible and powerful are the four key parameters in one product which broadens the possibilities for solar applications. Also corporate or regulatory goals increase the energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources motivates people to look into all possible ways to utilize solar sources. “Our products provide them the opportunity to do this on buildings, vehicles and other objects they may not have been able to do with other products on the market”, says Dr. Zhou.
While asking him about the exclusive strategy that keeps MiaSolé abreast of the competition and high demands of the energy conservation, Dr. Zhou asserts, “We are continually researching ways to both increases the efficiency of our solar cells as well as to reduce the components of the module to drive down costs as well as preserve resources. We believe our unique product of thin flexible solar modules and cells provides a vital component to the overall solar marketplace, allowing solar energy to be generated where it previously could not.”
The silicon modules are very inexpensive due to which it is in high demand irrespective of the drawbacks in implementing it in the portable chargers; which need to be unbreakable, compact, light-weight, and the curved structures. MiaSolé always makes sure that its products will remain environmentally friendly by considering the full lifecycle of its products and offer various ways to recycle them.
Future Prospects
With the increasing global advancements, the need for energy will keep growing. As the need for energy grows, one can foresee the future of renewable energy growing due to the realization of the huge requirement of the clean energy sources. The energy-tech industry is predicting a future filled with more consumer devices along with the sensors and connected homes, buildings, and communities.
Mobile Energy allows people to utilize the energy wherever and whenever they require. This innovation will bring-in a great transformation in the market and customers will see the value of the solutions as they expand their renewable energy portfolios. “We will continue to monitor the market to look for areas where our products offer the competitive advantage, much like we have done for the transportation market currently”, expresses Dr. Zhou.
URL: www.miasole.com
Source: The 10 Most Innovative Energy Tech Solution Providers 2018
