news digest ♦ Solar
back to the critical levels of the third quarter of 2012 - or even below. This will force more suppliers to review their business models and eventually leave the solar market.
After a tough first quarter, a substantial increase in global demand is forecast to drive increasing revenues and stabilising prices in the second half of 2013.
IHS forecasts 35 GW of global installations in 2013, up 10 percent over 2012. Although this level of growth is lower than previous years, it will drive a continuous improvement of shipments and revenues in the polysilicon to module supply chain throughout 2013.
Recent positive signals from authorities in several key markets like China and France raise hopes for the recovery of the PV industry to happen even faster. “Whilst it’s too early to give the all-clear for the PV supplier industry, there is increasing indication that the year 2013 will mark the turnaround,” concludes de Haan.
The chart below presents a forecast of global shipments of the photovoltaic module industry (crystalline and thin film).
IHS Solar Module Industry Shipment Forecast (Crystalline and Thin Film) Q3 2013
High-efficiency flexible CIGS solar cells on polyimide film developed at Empa with a novel process
To make solar electricity affordable on a large scale, scientists and engineers have long been trying to develop a low-cost solar cell, which is both highly efficient and easy to manufacture with high throughput.
Now a team at Empa’s Laboratory for Thin Film and Photovoltaics, led by Ayodhya N. Tiwari, has made another leap ahead.
They achieved a 20.4 percent energy conversion efficiency for thin film CIGS solar cells on flexible polymer substrates, a massive improvement over the previous record of 18.7 percent achieved by the same team in May 2011.
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www.compoundsemiconductor.net January/February 2013
Empa raises the bar with CIGS efficiency of 20.4 percent
The research institute says it has achieved a new world record for (copper indium gallium (di)selenide) solar efficiency
Scientists at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, have developed thin film solar cells on flexible polymer foils with a new record efficiency of 20.4 percent for converting sunlight into electricity.
The cells are based on CIGS semiconducting material known for its potential to provide cost- effective solar electricity. The technology is currently awaiting scale-up for industrial applications.
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