Featured in Work in progress – 04-2023

New turf for thin films

Thin-film technologies have long promised to make a major impact on the solar industry but have largely been constrained to niche applications and research labs if they were not shredded by the market. After several false starts, current trade dynamics and promising research programs may help solar thin films find their place in the sun, as Blake Matich reports.

By

Blake Matich

05 Apr 2023

First Solar’s new 3.3 GW manufacturing facility in India should be operational by mid-2023. | First Solar

Thin-film solar has long promised a big future but the technology has been slow to scale. Recent innovation and applications, however, hint at a larger space in the market opening up.Long-time thin-film producer First Solar’s cadmium telluride technology (CdTe) is currently on a path to silicon PV-style scale, thanks to the US Inflation Reduction Act …

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