Source: CNBM

Date: May 16, 2016

Recently, the German CIGS producer Avancis announced the development of a 300mm×300mm CIGS small thin-film solar cell in its Munich R&D center with a record conversion efficiency of 17.9%. Avancis said that the technology can be transferred soon into the 1m² standard component with a power of 170Wp.

Avancis, as a developer of thin film solar technology, has been making breakthroughs in its CIGS thin-film PV cell and CdTe technologies. It achieved an efficiency of 17.9% for PV module with a lighting area of 622 cm², and that set a new record, higher than the 16.5% efficiency previous achieved by TSMC, a Taiwan semiconductor giant, as well as the 16% efficiency of Manz, another high-tech equipment manufacturer in Germany.

This component with record high efficiency will be put into production in the Torgau factory of Germany where the deadband of CIGS cell will be reduced mainly by decreasing the cell width, optimizing the ZnO layer and aluminum positive contact and improving laser ablation. The CIGS module is suitable for application in confined space (such as the roof), which previously has been adopting crystalline silicon technology. This technology of Avancis has been certified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE).

Avancis was acquired by CNBM in 2014. Avancis technology, with its elegant jet black design is particularly suitable for application in BIPV project that CNBM is also interested. In addition, Avancis components do not contain any cadmium, having advantages in environmental protection when used on facades and roofs.