International Solar Energy Research Center Konstanz e.V.

Research for a Sunny Future

The International Solar Energy Research Center Konstanz e.V. (ISC Konstanz) researches and develops crystalline silicon solar cells. We are working closely together with leading enterprises and research institutes in the field.

The idea of launching a solar research institute originated at the University of Konstanz in 2005. Its 17 founding members, primarily physicists, established ISC Konstanz as a non-profit association.

A lot of private money and a strong commitment have been invested into the project with the objective of making solar cells more efficient and reducing their production costs - thus promoting the dissemination of this environmentally-friendly technology. These goals are reflected in our motto: Research for a sunny future!

Our association is financed through the fees paid by its full and sustaining members, through donations, the sponsorship of 12 industrial partners, public research contracts placed by the EU and the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) as well as industrial contracts.

Currently, ISC Konstanz is conducting 43 different projects. The financial volume of our research projects amounted to approximately 3 million Euros in 2010. ISC Konstanz has 60 employees and its team is constantly growing. We evaluate new, cost-efficient silicon raw materials and optimise existing production steps and machinery.

Furthermore, we develop new technologies for industrial solar cell production and test innovative solar cell concepts.

However, ISC Konstanz does not merely view itself as a partner of commercial enterprises. For solar energy to be widely accepted and used, our researchers consider it to be essential to go beyond the ceaseless pursuit of continued technological development by also informing the public at large. This is why ISC Konstanz provides internships for pupils and students, explains its own solar plant on presentation boards and offers guided tours through its labs to school classes.

Our philosophy:

• Applied research in the area of solar energy
• A leading position in crystalline silicon photovoltaics
• Independent, non-profit organisation, in part publicly funded
• Close collaboration with the whole PV sector
• Development-, training- and testing platform for wafer-, solar cell-, module-, and equipment manufacturers