American CIGS manufacturer sustains 10% efficiency

An American manufacturer claims to be the first in the CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide) thin-film market to achieve an average of 10-percent solar cell efficiency on a flexible/lightweight substrate over several production runs.

 

Global Solar Energy (GSE), USA, the premier manufacturer of CIGS thin-film solar products reached the milestone in December of 2007, capping off a record year in which the company also manufactured and shipped 4 MW (megawatts) of photovoltaic material powering commercial, government, military and consumer products worldwide.

 

"In 2007, we saw a range of economic and environmental factors converge to create a substantial market opportunity for renewable energy technologies across all facets of the economy," said Mike Gering, CEO of Global Solar Energy. "Government, commercial and consumer demand for renewable energy products and building materials are growing at a fast pace, thereby putting pressure on CIGS producers and other types of solar manufacturers to deliver high efficiency products that are flexible, lightweight and lower cost per watt installed. We are proud to have reached such an important efficiency milestone, one on which we intend to improve to help meet the renewable energy demands of our customers, partners and distributors worldwide in 2008."

 

The company produces high-efficiency solar cell technology that can be used in traditional rigid glass panels, as well as flexible applications that require more durability. Such applications extend over a broad range to include; energy, utility, building construction and design, government, military and consumer products.

 

"A number of CIGS thin-film companies have exceeded 10 percent efficiency in the lab or in individual cells, but achieving 10 percent average solar cell efficiency over the course of several sustained, continuous production runs is a significant achievement," said Dr. Jeffrey Britt, Ph.D., vice president of technology. "This is the culmination of three full years of being in production and evolving our proprietary production techniques to continuously improve the efficiency and output of our production."

 

Reference and source of image: Global Solar Energy

 

For more information on CIGS attend Photovoltaics Beyond Conventional Silicon and read Printed and Thin Film Photovoltaics and Batteries.