Honda Soltec said it will start selling copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide thin-film-based solar modules for public and industrial use throughout Japan on Friday. The Honda solar subsidiary has sold photovoltaic modules for home use since October 2007, and now the company intends to expand its customer base by manufacturing and selling solar units capable of the high-capacity electrical generation required by public and industrial facilities.
The company said it is seeing growth in demand not only for private-use panels, but for public- and industrial-use solar modules as well, and continues to strengthen its business foundation by expanding product line.
Completed large-scale CIGS TFPV installations include a 9-KW system installed at a Honda car dealership in Ibaraki Prefecture, a 20-KW array deployed on a large automobile transport ship, and a 116-KW, 1000-module system at the Honda motorcycle factory’s office building in Kumamoto.
The public- and industrial-use line of CIGS modules, manufactured at Honda Soltec’s 27.5-MW capacity plant in Kumamoto, feature dimensions of 1.4 m x 0.79 m x 0.037 m and weigh 14.3 kg. The 115- and 125-W units have with nominal open-circuit voltage ratings of 92.7 V and 93.3 V, respectively.
— Tom Cheyney