First Solar Inc. has achieved 20.4% conversion efficiency for cadmium-telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic solar cells.
The company says the milestone was certified by the Newport Corp.'s Technology and Applications Center PV Lab and confirmed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Last year, First Solar and GE formed a solar technology partnership in which First Solar acquired GE's CdTe solar intellectual property and secured a collaborative research partnership with GE's research and development team.