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efficiency, but also through advancements in the production technology used to manufacture the panels, for example by integrating an increasing number of process steps within the process chain.
“The thin-film panels manufactured on our systems are competitive everywhere in the world,” says Dieter Manz. “And as a result, the solar market’s growth will no longer be dependent on national subsidy conditions.”
CIGS thin-film solar panels can be manufactured for significantly less than crystalline silicon panels. This is because the semiconductor layer, which absorbs the sunlight, is comprised of one half affordable copper and is less than two millimetres thick – one- hundredth of a crystalline cell.
What’s more, when manufacturing thin-film solar panels based on glass, both the complex silicon wafer production process and the need to connect the individual cells together are eliminated. The entire panel can be manufactured on a fully automated production line.
In the past, however, thin-film panels could not keep up with the efficiency rates of crystalline silicon panels – a drawback that Manz systems like the fully automated CIGSfab now make up for. The world record panel is the first time the efficiency of polycrystalline silicon solar panels has been achieved with a thin-film panel.
CIGS is considered the solar technology with the greatest potential to further cut costs and increase efficiency rates in the future. On the negative side, it contains the toxic and expensive group III elements indium and gallium.
Manz manufactured the world record CIGS panel on its own innovation line in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. Manz acquired this line from panel manufacturer Würth Solar at the beginning of the year. As a result, the high-tech engineering firm has the ability to test and optimise new materials and production processes under mass-production conditions.
Manz claims to offer the only turnkey production line for CIGS thin-film solar panels currently available ( CIGSfab). The firm has succeeded in cutting the investment costs for the line by around 40 percent since it began working with the technology back in
2010.
In doing so, the company benefited from its wide- ranging expertise in a variety of technological fields, including automation, laser processes, vacuum coating, metrology, and wet-chemical processes. In this process, the high-tech engineering firm uses synergies that result from making advancements to these technologies in its three strategic areas of business: Solar, Display, and Battery.
First Solar secures 25MWAC project in Rajasthan
The Rajasthan Project, which will employ First Solar’s cadmium telluride solar panels, is part of the Indian Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission
First Solar and Green Infra Limited have signed an agreement for the supply of First Solar’s advanced, CdTe thin-film solar modules for a 25 megawattAC (MW) project in the Indian state of Rajasthan.
The project is part of the second batch of utility- scale solar projects concluded under India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, which aims to install 20,000 MW of new solar electricity generating capacity by 2022. First Solar will supply the modules for the project, which has been developed by Green Infra, which in turn has awarded the EPC contract to Juwi.
“Today, India is on the path of becoming one of the leading nations in the solar energy sector, and we are excited to be a part of this journey. Our latest project with Green Infra is a significant project under the National Solar Mission that will help India meet its energy security needs,” says Sujoy Ghosh, First Solar’s India Country Head. “Large-scale solar photovoltaic power plants are the key to achieving economies of scale and reducing the cost of solar electricity for everyone.”
“We are pleased to partner with First Solar again for this critical project,” adds Shivanand Nimbargi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Green Infra.
The project is expected to produce 46 million kilowatt hour units of clean electricity per year, equivalent to the annual electricity needs of more
October 2012
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