Miasolé today announced it has reached 17.44% efficiency with a flexible module using copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) technology. The achievement was independently confirmed by Fraunhofer ISE, and will be added to the collection of PV records in the journal Progress in Photovoltaics.
The record was achieved on a module with aperture area measuring 1.08m², produced on Miasolé’s production line in Santa Clara, California. The CIGS cell material was deposited onto a flexible substrate via a physical vapor deposition process the company says produces high-efficiency solar cells at high throughput.
CIGS technology has potential for the production of lightweight, flexible solar modules. Though it has been produced commercially in small quantities for years, industrial interest in the technology has grown of late with several gigawatts of new production capacity ramping up in Asia.
According to Miasolé, the flexible CIGS technology it has developed can be used in building or even vehicle-integrated panels. “We will continue to lead the industry by providing innovative and powerful products that enable new applications for solar power,” said chief technology officer Atiye Bayman.
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Fellow Hanergy subsidiary Solibro has held the record for CIGS efficiency in a ‘traditional’ rigid solar module since early 2018 while long established Japanese manufacturer Solar Frontier – which has produced CIGS modules commercially for decades – set the world record for the technology at 22.9%, achieved on a cell measuring 1cm².
Several leading research institutes including imec and Solliance have reported efficiencies well above 20% for tandem cells combining perovskite and CIGS layers. In January, the latter reported 21.5% efficiency for such a tandem cell, the CIGS layer of which was provided by Miasolé.
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