News Article
Miasolé Commercial-Scale CIGS Module Exceeds 14% Efficiency
The result, verified by NREL on a 1 square meter area CIGS module, advances the potential of thin-film solar panels as a competitive energy source.
MiaSolé, a leading manufacturer of Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic solar panels, has achieved 14.3% efficiency of its large area production modules (1 square meter in size).
The result was independently confirmed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
According to MiaSolé , the highest independently confirmed module efficiency for any commercial scale CIGS module technology is currently 14.3%.
“We are pleased that we continue to make progress in the execution of our technology, cost reduction and manufacturing roadmaps,” said Joseph Laia, CEO of MiaSolé.
MiaSolé now offers bank financeable solar modules with efficiency comparable to polysilicon combined with lower manufacturing costs of thin-film modules.
MiaSolé's unique manufacturing process deposits CIGS on a flexible stainless steel substrate and produces all of the layers required for its highly efficient solar cell in a single continuous process. The firm says it is the only thin-film solar company that uses sputtering processes every step of the way for coating the solar modules, thereby reducing manufacturing time and cost of production.
MiaSolé shipped 6.5MW in the first half of this year, and is expected to ship 22MW in 2010. The company's products are designed for utilities and independent power producers to use in industrial scale deployments such as large-scale rooftop and ground mount installations.
