Manz given €3.8 million to develop CIGS technology in Germany
Efficient solar technology “made in Germany” with decreased manufacturing costs – that is the goal of two development partnerships Manz AG is participating in with various industry and research partners. Manz has entered the first cooperative research project with the CIGS module manufacturer Würth Solar and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) in Stuttgart. The goal of this project is to make more rapid advancements in CIGS thin-film technology licensed to the company as part of the exclusive expertise and cooperation agreement with Würth Solar. CIGS modules are one of the most efficient of all thin-film solar technologies available today. Photovoltaic cells in ZSW’s laboratory, which have an impressive efficiency of 20.3%, demonstrate that there is still enormous potential for increasing the efficiency of mass-produced cells. The primary goals of the project are to both rapidly increase efficiency while simultaneously reducing investment and manufacturing costs. The project has a total budget of €12.5 million. Manz will receive €3.8 million in subsidies over the next four years from Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment. The second project involving crystalline silicon solar cells has a budget totalling €7.7 million, with €1.85 million coming from government subsidies. “The issue here is Germany’s ability to compete in our industry on an international scale,” says Dieter Manz, founder and CEO of Manz AG, “and we are up against strong research initiatives in many countries, not only in China. For Manz, the support is important as we move down the path toward our strategic goal of becoming the leading supplier of fully integrated production systems.” As part of the Photovoltaics Innovation Alliance launched in August of 2010, Germany’s federal government is funding select industry projects in order to reach grid parity for solar power as quickly as possible. This refers to the point at which the cost of generating solar power is competitive with other sources of energy.