News

21 October 2009

 

CIGS PV maker Ascent reaches 14% cell efficiency in commercial production

Ascent Solar Technologies Inc of Thornton, CO, USA says it has achieved a solar energy conversion efficiency of 14% for its copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic cells on flexible plastic substrate produced at its 1.5MW-capacity Fab1 commercial production line at its former headquarters in Littleton, CO.

The US Department of Energy’s National Renewal Energy Laboratory (NREL) measured 14.01% cell efficiency for the CIGS material. Ascent Solar also announced a peak efficiency of 11.7% for its monolithically integrated CIGS modules (manufactured at Fab1). NREL verified module efficiency of 10.4% as recently as July (up on the 9.64% verified by NREL last December).

“This is a significant breakthrough in demonstrating our ability to achieve thin-film CIGS cells with 14% efficiency from regular production machines,” says president & CEO Dr Farhad Mogahadam. “Ascent Solar’s ability to manufacturer monolithically integrated modules with efficiency as high as 11.7% in regular production serves as a vital element to our low-cost per watt manufacturing goal,” he adds.

See related item:

Ascent Solar achieves 9.64% CIGS PV module efficiency

Search: Ascent Solar CIGS thin-film PV modules

Visit: www.ascentsolar.com