Cdte Solar Panel Efficiency

In august 2014 first solar announced a device with 21 1 conversion efficiency.

Cdte solar panel efficiency.

Cdte thin film solar cells can be manufactured quickly and inexpensively providing a lower cost alternative to conventional silicon based technologies. Recent improvements have matched the efficiency of multicrystalline silicon while maintaining cost leadership. Additionally cdte solar cells require less energy to produce than silicon based solar cells. In february 2016 first solar announced that they had reached a record 22 1 conversion efficiency in their cdte cells.

Drawbacks of cadmium telluride photovoltaics. The united states is the leader in cadmium telluride cdte photovoltaic pv manufacturing and nrel has been at the forefront of research and development in this area. Cigs cells also use the toxic chemical cadmium. Cdte is an ideal absorber material for high efficiency low cost thin film polycrystalline solar cells.

Due to the high absorption rate of sunlight and bandgap energy at around 1 45 defined ev which is closely near the ideal solar spectrum wavelength it has much better efficiency. With efficiencies exceeding 20 measured in the laboratory there may be a continuing place for high efficiency cigs panels in the general solar panel market. Learn about our component and structure partners. Based on first solar s proven cdte technology series 6 retains all of the performance and reliability advantages featuring premium components and globally consistent high quality manufacture.

In 2014 the record module efficiency was also raised by first solar from 16 1 up to 17 0. Pv solar cells based on cdte represent the largest segment of commercial thin film module production worldwide. However cdte panels have a higher percentage of cadmium and cigs cells are a relatively responsible thin film option for the environment. The record efficiency for a laboratory cdte solar cell is 22 1 by first solar while first solar recently reported its average commercial module efficiency to be 16 1 at the end of 2015.

Another nine are from first solar the arizona company that is the market leader for the production and sale of cdte thin film solar panels. First solar hits record 22 1 conversion efficiency for cdte solar cell 4 about a year ago first solar crushed the conversion efficiency mark for cadmium telluride with a world record 21 5.