Ascent Solar Technologies Inc., a developer of flexible thin-film solar modules, says it has achieved greater than 9.5% efficiency for its flexible copper indium gallium selenide CIGS monolithically integrated modules.
The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) independently verified that the modules measured as high as 9.64% in conversion efficiency. The modules tested at NREL were produced from the company's 1.5 MW pilot production line.
‘Many doubted that a thin-film CIGS solar cell-on-plastic technology could be possible,’ comments Lawrence Kazmerksi, executive director of NREL. ‘Ascent Solar not only achieved this, but they now have confirmed efficiencies near 10% at NREL on fully integrated, monolithic prototype modules. This appears to be a substantial leap toward realizing high-performance, inexpensive thin-film solar photovoltaics.’
‘Our goal continues to be the commercialization of flexible thin-film CIGS modules using a plastic substrate, which we hope will uniquely position Ascent Solar to provide lightweight, flexible photovoltaic material at low cost,’ says Dr. Prem Nath, senior vice president of manufacturing for Ascent Solar.
SOURCE: Ascent Solar
