26 January 2017

Midsummer's Asian client manufacturing CIGS solar modules with 14% efficiency

Midsummer AB of Järfälla, near Stockholm, Sweden – a provider of turnkey production lines for manufacturing flexible, lightweight copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar cells – says that its Asian client is now manufacturing lightweight flexible solar modules with an energy conversion efficiency of 14%.

Midsummer previously announced that it had sold its compact DUO solar cell manufacturing system to an Asian client. The system is in production and is producing flexible solar modules at record levels, it is claimed. The flexible solar module is made of cells from the client's factory in Asia.

Midsummer's client has now surpassed 14% in conversion efficiency (corresponding to 15.4% aperture-area efficiency), as tested at the independent research institute Chemitox Inc in Yamanashi, Japan. The modules were made in the client's mass-production line in normal production conditions and with standard process settings with a CIGS layer less than 1 micron thick.

Designed for operational stability and superior material utilization, the DUO is a compact, fully automatic deposition system for CIGS solar cell manufacturing.

With Midsummer's production system, the solar cells are manufactured individually and then strung together into modules (just like crystalline solar cells). So, lightweight flexible modules can easily be made in any size and shape. A dry, all-vacuum process has less stringent requirements for cleanrooms. Avoiding cadmium in the manufacturing process is desirable for the sake of production staff and also makes it easier to commence low-cost manufacturing of CIGS solar cells, says the firm.

"Lightweight, flexible solar modules are the future of solar energy since they fit in to the 'distributed energy' trend and can be fitted on buildings, vehicles etc," notes CEO Sven Lindström.

Tags: CIGS Thin-film PV

Visit: www.midsummer.se