Thin-Film

First Solar has revealed a new total area module efficiency record for its CdTe thin-film technology of 17%, a significant increase from 16.1%, set in April 2013.

First Solar is planning its next major CdTe thin-film production capacity expansion phase to occur in 2015 with an additional 1GW of nameplate capacity. The company revealed the plans during its 2014 Analyst Day event.

A new working group has been formed in Germany to support organic PV (OPV) firms and research institutes developing the thin-film technology.

Having dropped organic solar cells (OPV) that used fullerenes as the acceptor materials, imec has reported in ‘Nature Communications’ that it has produced a fullerene-free OPV cell with a record conversion efficiency of 8.4% and a 156cm2 module with a conversion efficiency of 5.3%.

Flexible CIGS thin-film firm, Ascent Solar surpassed US$1 million in annual revenue for the second time since it started operations in 2005.

Infrastructure management company, based in South Africa, Engevix has installed a pilot PV plant in Brazil.

In a strategic move ahead of possible new anti-dumping duties being imposed on c-Si PV manufacturers in China and Taiwan, CIGS thin-film producer, TSMC Solar has selected Centrosolar America as its exclusive distributor in North America.

First Solar reported fourth quarter and full-year 2013 results that failed to meet financial analyst’s expectations by a wide-margin, with it shares taking a big tumble.

Chinese thin-film manufacturer Hanergy Solar has confirmed that it has now received all due payments from its parent company Hanergy Group.

Analysts have predicted slow growth for India’s solar market this year due to delays in implementing its waning national solar mission.