Oerlikon Solar presented its 2nd generation ThinFabTM at the World Future Energy Summit 2012 (WFES) in Abu Dhabi today. This end-to-end production line resets the standard for manufacturing sustainable solar modules at low cost and high quality. The new design reduces capital expenditure (Capex) by 23 % to just $ 1/Wp including engineering support and performance guarantees. The production line enables customers to produce high-quality thin film silicon modules for costs of around $ 0.5/Wp (€ 0.35/Wp), a record in the solar industry. Oerlikon Solar also announced a new record thin film silicon cell today. At 12.5 %, the efficiency of this lab cell is 1.7 percentage points higher than the large scale production modules of the 2nd generation ThinFabTM (an increase of 16 %) and clearly demonstrates the potential of Oerlikon Solar’s thin film silicon technology.
The 2nd generation ThinFabTM, announced on December 19, 2011, is available in the market as of today. In addition to lower Capex requirements and the lowest module production costs, the upgraded ThinFabTM provides customers with a guaranteed average module efficiency of 10.8 % (154 Wp) – an increase of 8 % – and a 17 % higher output capacity compared with the 1st generation.
The new record cell with 12.5 % efficiency was developed in cooperation with leading specialty glass manufacturer Corning Incorporated. Oerlikon Solar set the previous record in September 2010 when it developed a champion cell delivering 11.9 % efficiency. This significant efficiency increase in such a short period of time demonstrates the future potential of Oerlikon Solar’s Micromorph® thin film silicon technology and Oerlikon Solar’s leading thin film silicon research and development capabilities.
