News

8 September 2008

 

Thin film technology set to top 30% of solar cell market by 2015

According to the market research firm The Information Network, in 2008 thin film solar cells will represent 14.4% (800 MW of power) of the total solar cell market, increasing to 20.2% in 2010 and 30.5% in 2015.

“Ample supplies of polycrystalline material with significantly higher efficiencies will dominate the market and keep thin film technology to less than one-third of the market in 2015,” said Robert Castellano, president of The Information Network.

Currently, amorphous silicon (a-Si) leads with 61.1% of the thin film solar market (8.8% of the entire solar cell market), but by 2015 its share will drop to 23.3%, while CIGS will grow to represent 43.3% of the thin film solar market and 13.2% of the total solar cell market by 2015.

“For the nanomaterial market, we see usage primarily in the CIGS sector. We see minimal use in the a-Si and CdTe space.  Dye- sensitized solar cells (DSSC) will utilize nanomaterials, but with current efficiencies of only 3-5%, they are not competitive in the near term.  In 2010, we will see that improvements in cell construction, by eliminating volatile organic components, will give rise to the entry of competitive products on the market,” adds Castellano.

The report concludes that the total solar cell market will grow from 5.625 GW in 2008 to 79.53 GW in 2015.

Table: Percentage of total solar market.

Material	2008	2015
Amorphous silicon (a-Si)	8.8	7.1
Cadmium telluride (CdTe)	2.5	8.1
CIGS	2.8	13.2
Other thin films, including GaAs and dye- sensitized solar cells	0.3	2.1
Total	14.4	30.5

Report: Market Outlook for Nanomaterials for Electronics Applications: Semiconductors, Solar, Displays. Sensors, RFID, Lighting 

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Thin-film solar market to reach 9GW in 2012

Thin-film to grow from 10% to 19% of PV market by 2012

Search: Thin film solar cells CIGS CdTe a-Si GaAs solar cells

Visit: www.theinformationnet.com