Cigs Solar Panel Efficiency

Solar cell efficiency refers to the portion of energy in the form of sunlight that can be converted via photovoltaics into electricity by the solar cell.

Cigs solar panel efficiency.

In september 2012 the german manz ag presented a cigs solar module with an efficiency of 14 6 on total module surface and 15 9 on aperture which was produced on a mass production facility. Cigs is a versatile material that can be fabricated by multiple processes and implemented in different form factors. While it trails in efficiency cigs is not far away has shown a cigs solar cell that converts 19 5 percent of sunlight into electricity. In a manufacturing environment that means 15 percent to 16.

Cigs panels have shown potential in laboratory testing for high efficiency put in real world use they have shown an efficiency of 10 12 percent. Unlike most thin film solar technologies cigs solar panels offer a potentially competitive efficiency to traditional silicon panels. In 2014 laboratory experiments produced a record efficiency of 23 2 percent by a cigs cell with a modified surface structure. However because of their cost they are typically used in building spacecrafts and other types of specialized applications where pv energy is required.

The top honor was claimed by researchers at the national renewable energy laboratory nrel who have developed a new solar cell with an efficiency of 47 1 percent. Cigs cells also use the toxic chemical cadmium. Record efficiency of up to 15 5 on 30 30 cm2 and 13 9 on 1 m2 sized fully integrated thin film solar modules have been achieved at avancis using rapid thermal annealing of stacked elemental layers of cu ga in and se. Miasolé obtained a certified 15 7 aperture area efficiency on a 1m 2 production module and solar frontier claimed a 17 8 efficiency on a 900 cm 2 module.

For example cigs can be deposited on substrates such as glass metal foils and polymers. Thin panel solar panels made with gallium arsenide are considered the most efficient of all thin panels with a high of 28 8 percent. The efficiency of the solar cells used in a photovoltaic system in combination with latitude and climate determines the annual energy output of the system for example a solar panel with 20 efficiency and an area of 1 m 2 will produce 200. With efficiencies exceeding 20 measured in the laboratory there may be a continuing place for high efficiency cigs panels in the general solar panel market.

Cigs based thin film solar modules represent a high efficiency alternative for large scale commercial solar modules.