EU PVSEC: Solar thin-film reaches €0.50/Wp

Oerlikon Solar says it will reach solar silicon thin-film production costs of €0.50/Wp with its new ThinFab production line – it has also achieved 11.9% efficiency with its Micromorph lab cell.

The ThinFab solar silicon thin-film line incorporates:

• New generation of the core equipments PECVD, TCO and laser;
• Thinner cell structures with reduced degradation and reduced gas consumption;
• Stabilised module efficiency of 10% (143 Wp per module); and
• New low voltage module design, based on simplified new backend equipment.

Oerlikon Solar has also achieved 11.9% stabilised efficiency with its newMicromorph lab cell in cooperation with Corning Incorporated. The result has been confirmed by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

“The 10% efficiency of our non-toxic, environmentally friendly modules, combined with the lowest production costs ever, provides the solar industry with completely new opportunities. On top of that our new champion cell with 11.9% stabilised efficiency demonstrates even further potential of the thin-film silicon technology,” says Jurg Henz, Oerlikon Solar CEO.

“Our technology offers the lowest energy payback time compared to other crystalline technologies and is not based on limited resources,” he adds.