News Article
Calyxo makes headway on cost competitive solar power
The CdTe thin-film producer has manufactured a module with an efficiency of 13.4 percent and has secured financing for the year 2012
Calyxo GmbH confirms, with its innovative thin-film module, the huge performance potential of photovoltaic modules based on cadmium telluride technology.
The Calyxo module has an output of 88.7 W at an efficiency of 13.4 % measured on aperture area. Based on these results, owner Solar Fields, LLC, Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A. has decided to fund the company for the some years.
On the left is Michael Bauer, CTO of Calyxo and on the right is Calyxo CEO, Florian Holzapfel
Calyxo GmbH, founded in 2005, produces thin-film solar modules based on cadmium telluride (CdTe) technology. After the company split from Q-Cells in February of 2011, the former technology provider Solar Fields took over Calyxo and invested in a second production line with a capacity of approximately 120 MWp, which will commence production in 2012.
Calyxo currently manufactures a module volume representing an annual power generation capacity of 25 MWp at their production facilities Bitterfeld/Wolfen-Thalheim, in the so-called "Solar Valley" in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. All Calyxo modules are thus "Made and Developed in Germany".
Research and rapid further development of the Calyxo CdTe modules is constantly being driven ahead, in collaboration with the American parent company Calyxo USA Inc. Thin-film solar cells are economic to manufacture and can convert solar energy to electricity under the most unfavourable weather conditions. The modules still operate efficiently on roofs that are not directly aligned to the south.
The production process used for Calyxo CdTe thin-film modules also helps to reduce environmental contamination. The cadmium used for the CdTe modules is a waste product from the mining industry that must otherwise be expensively stored to prevent environmental damage.
Calyxo says CdTe technology refines the cadmium and tellurium to a water-insoluble semiconductor to form the basis of the Calyxo thin-film module. The cadmium telluride is then safely bonded between two glass plates to provide a reliable source of solar power for decades. Calyxo says CdTe modules also offer a small energy payback time of about 1.5 years.
