About Kaneka Corporation

Not just a technology leader in photovoltaics, Kaneka has its hands in many different fields–polymers, fermentation, biotechnology and electronics. A firm believer in solar thin film technology, Kaneka has done research on this technology since the 1980’s and began selling solar panels in 2000. Founded in Japan 1949, Kaneka celebrated their 60th anniversary in September 2009.

Deciding to capture the growing photovoltaic market in the US, Japan and Europe, 2009 was indeed a pivotal year for Kaneka. They opened a new sales office in Pasadena, Texas and decided to set up new solar cell research in division at Kaneka Belgium, a subsidiary of Kaneka.

Kaneka joined forces with IMEC, Kingdom of Belgium, a world-class research institute in the field of semiconductor processes centering on single-crystal silicon. Their goal is to marry Kaneka’s thin film silicon technology with IMEC’s optical control technology to achieve the world’s the world’s highest level of efficiency in silicon solar cells–a greater than 20% conversion efficiency.

Solar panel efficiency ratings are important because the higher the panel’s efficiency, the more power the panel will produce per square inch of active cell material. The typical Solar Panel achieves between 10% and 15% efficiency conversion.