SABIC Showcases its Commitment to Fueling New Materials Innovations for Solar Power Customer Applications at Intersolar Europe 2012

MUNICH, Germany — June 13, 2012 — Here at Intersolar Europe 2012 (booth A5.530), SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business is showcasing its extensive and growing portfolio of specialty thermoplastics designed to support major trends in solar applications. Highlighting the applications on display is the solar industry’s first polycarbonate (PC) building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) panels for roofing, cladding and glazing, which illustrates the company’s continuing commitment to advancing customer’s sustainable energy generation through more efficient solar power. In addition, Intersolar attendees can learn more about how SABIC’s world-class materials solutions are helping customers around the world co-innovate improvements to photovoltaic (PV) systems, part consolidation and simplified maintenance.

“SABIC’s tremendous expertise about the industries in which our customers compete stems from our tradition of listening before recommending,” said Ilknur Gur, general manager of the Specialty business in Europe, Innovative Plastics. “Our development of the Lexan* BIPV panels embodies this principle. It helped innovate a new industry-first that can transform conventional roofing and glazing systems and provide new choices for customers when integrating solar systems into building designs across the globe. SABIC continues to explore how its advanced materials technologies can open new opportunities for solar power customers by continuously improving new application development, customer support and new thermoplastics solutions.”

Photovoltaic Applications Shine

Demonstrating SABIC’s tradition of challenging existing industry standards to improve systems efficiencies, performance and product sustainability, the new Lexan BIPV panels combine tough, transparent Lexan Thermoclear* PC sheet with photovoltaic cells into panels that come in a broad range of sizes, configurations and colors. Lexan BIPV panels are an excellent alternative to traditional BIPV materials, particularly glass, because they deliver exceptional design freedom – including the ability to create dramatic curved shapes – and provide light weight, excellent thermal insulation, extreme durability and improved safety.

In addition to Lexan BIPV panels, SABIC’s booth features an array of solar industry applications that demonstrate the company’s proactive approach to anticipating its customers’ demands. For example, junction boxes and inverter housings on exhibit illustrate the advantages of Noryl* resin for solar designers and manufacturers. This versatile material can enable the design of smaller components, provides the thermal performance needed to address the challenges of miniaturization and delivers excellent flame retardant properties. Plus, storage battery housings molded from Noryl N190X resin demonstrate excellent chemical and high heat resistance.

SABIC is also displaying a PV panel backsheet film extruded from Noryl resin, which can provide long-term durability to extend the useful life of the panel and is an alternative to other solutions currently available.

Additionally on display at SABIC’s booth, a micro PV tracking system using SABIC’s LNP* Thermocomp* PF00DS compound for the brackets and LNP Lubricomp* DL002 compound for the moving arm parts. Glass-filled LNP Thermocomp PF00DS compound allows for part integration and can provide the high stiffness needed for structural parts like brackets. LNP Lubricomp DL002 compound, a lubricated material for moving parts, may reduce maintenance costs by eliminating the need for external lubricants.

SABIC offers a wide array of materials for solar and electrical systems, including Noryl, Lexan and Cycoloy* resins and LNP Thermocomp and LNP Lubricomp specialty compounds. In addition to the materials featured at Intersolar, SABIC offers transparent Lexan CFR copolymer for solar collectors and other applications requiring flame retardance at very thin gauges. Lexan CFR copolymer meets the UL 945 VA standard at 0.3 mm. Cycoloy resins are excellent candidate materials when flame retardance, chemical resistance and good heat performance are needed for storage battery housings. LNP Thermocomp compounds, based on 25 different resins, contribute extremely high mechanical and ultraviolet performance in structural applications calling for high stiffness, part integration and weight-out. LNP Lubricomp compounds are lubricated materials specially developed to help reduce part wear and friction in applications such as bearings, sliders and nuts. This technology the need for external lubricants and can minimize maintenance costs.

For additional information on SABIC’s materials for PV applications, please go to www.sabic-ip.com. For technical product inquiries, please contact us at www.sabic-ip.com/prtechinquiry.

About Saudi Basic Industries Corporation
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world’s top petrochemical companies, and is a global market leader in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene, advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers. SABIC manufactures with a global footprint in Saudi Arabia, the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. The company operates in more than 40 countries across the world with more than 40,000 employees worldwide. It has significant research resources with 17 dedicated Technology & Innovation facilities in Saudi Arabia, the USA, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, India and South Korea. SABIC recorded a net profit of SR 29.24 billion (US$ 7.80 billion) in 2011, and sales revenues totaled SR 189.90 billion (US$ 50.64 billion).

About Innovative Plastics
SABIC’s Innovative Plastics strategic business unit is a leading, global supplier of engineering thermoplastics with an 80-year history of breakthrough solutions that solve its customers’ most pressing challenges. Today, Innovative Plastics is a multi-billion-dollar company with operations in more than 35 countries and approximately 9,000 employees worldwide. The company continues to lead the plastics industry with customer collaboration and continued investments in new polymer technologies, global application development, process technologies, and environmentally responsible solutions that serve diverse markets such as automotive, electronics, building & construction, transportation, and healthcare. The company’s extensive product portfolio includes thermoplastic resins, coatings, specialty compounds, film, and sheet. Innovative Plastics (www.sabic-ip.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC).

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* Trademarks of SABIC Innovative Plastics IP B.V.
SABIC is a trademark of SABIC Holding Europe B.V.

Kevin Noels
Marketing Solutions
Lelyweg 6
4612 PS, Bergen op Zoom
The Netherlands

This release was published on openPR.