French enterprise DisaSolar, a company specialising in custom-made solar modules, demonstrated the world's first polychrome photovoltaic module aimed at developing organic solar modules that can be used for military and civilian applications.

The module is the result of a three-year programme funded by the Directorate General of Armaments, French Army, in collaboration with French academic laboratories CNRS-XLIM-MINACOM and the CEA-INES.

"This is a new step towards custom-made energy," said DisaSolar CEO Stéphane Poughon. Organic photovoltaics(OPV) offers benefits in that it is lightweight, flexible and customisable.

By tailoring the electrical properties, shape and colour of the OPV panel, it will be possible to better meet customer requirements in terms of product specification and integration. The tuning of colour and freedom in design tackle the aesthetic hurdle (unique colour and rectangular shape) that makes conventional solar panels commercially unattractive for many applications.

Work on the solar module design, software development, ink formulations and processes has been undertaken by the three parties. Three different coloured functional inks have been used to make the polychrome module. The result has been possible with the use of inkjet printing processes.