News: Photovoltaics
23 December 2025
Ascent Solar reflects on 2025 commercial progress, industry partnerships and solar PV efficiency improvements
Ascent Solar Technologies Inc of Thornton, CO, USA – which designs and makes lightweight, flexible copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) panels that can be integrated into consumer products, off-grid applications and aerospace applications – has commented on the commercial progress, industry partnerships and solar PV efficiency improvements it achieved in 2025, as the leadership team looks ahead to continued corporate growth in 2026.
“Over the last year, we’ve seen where the market is headed and positioned our thin-film solar offerings accordingly,” says CEO Paul Warley. “The defense industry has displayed an increasing demand for efficient, readily available technologies; we have made ourselves an ideal provider by offering a highly efficient product, produced in the United States, that is ready for rapid delivery,” he adds. “We expect to maintain this momentum throughout the year by meeting with more potential partners and achieving even greater efficiency milestones. Our thin-film product is uniquely qualified to withstand the rigors of space and other punishing environments; as the market demand grows, we expect increased sales and revenue in 2026.”
Key company milestones and achievements included:
- initiating new strategic partnerships and teaming agreements with NovaSpark, Emtel Energy, CisLunar Industries, Defiant Space, Star Catcher Industries, NOVI Space, and more, to meet mutually beneficial commercial goals in the defense industry and beyond;
- establishing rapid product delivery capabilities to meet the swift needs of civil and defense space missions;
- advancing its thin-film PV product’s capabilities, including its space-based power-beaming abilities, marine environment durability, hydrogen production through field-based hydrolyzers, and more;
- closing a private placement of up to $5.5m; and
- partnering with the Georgia Institute of Technology to apply thin-film technology to unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) wings for a demonstration aiming to enable continuous flight for ocean monitoring via sea plane vehicles.
Ascent’s leadership aims to build upon this positive business momentum in 2026 via:
- beginning the year with an aggressive production schedule to deliver on existing orders for array deployments planned for Q1/2026;
- CEO Paul Warley conducted business travel to Europe in January to liaise with strategic players to establish potential partnerships and customer relationships;
- developing and delivering UAV arrays for European partners in first-half 2026;
- further advancing the efficiency of the company’s CIGS thin-film technology;
- continued advanced environmental testing through Q1/2026 to quantify performance in the extremes of space, including radiation and atomic oxygen resilience testing; and
- further building upon the partnerships established in 2025 to meet mutually beneficial goals.
