News Article
Siva Power Approaches 19% Efficiency in Record Time
Siva Power (formerly Solexant Corporation) has announced that it has achieved near record efficiency with its CIGS panel technology "“ approaching 19 percent "“ in a record time of 10 months.
In addition, the company welcomes leading solar energy expert, Charlie Gay, Ph.D., to its Technical Advisory Board. Dr. Gay joins Rommel Noufi, Ph.D., John Benner, and Markus Beck, Ph.D. to support Siva Power as it creates a profitable path to sub-$0.40 per watt solar power and unprecedented production scale.
Siva Power repositioned itself for success in February 2013 by transitioning to CIGS thin-film technology. In December 2013, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) certified Siva Power as achieving a laboratory efficiency of 18.8 percent "“ less than a year after the company shifted its technology focus.
In achieving 18.8 percent efficiency, Siva Power has nearly equalled accredited international research institutes such as NREL, the Swiss Federal Laboratory for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) and ZSW Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research, all of which have engaged in research and development (R&D) on CIGS for upwards of 20 years.
Siva Power credits much of this success to the deposition approach the company has selected. All CIGS efficiency records over the past two decades have been achieved using three-stage co-evaporation. This is the method that Siva Power has elected to scale to high-volume manufacturing.
"The Siva Power team's rate of progress in demonstrating these high efficiencies is unprecedented and is further proof that our technology, combined with an unrivaled manufacturing plan, is the most viable pathway to a profitable and sustainable solar industry," said Brad Mattson, Siva Power CEO. "This efficiency milestone speaks to our team's expertise, and we welcome Charlie's knowledge and experience as a critical component toward helping us achieve even more."
With more than 30 years of solar industry experience, Dr. Gay is an internationally recognized pioneer in PV. In 2013, Gay was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional honours accorded engineers. At present, Gay is co-founder and president of Greenstar Foundation, an organization dedicated to enabling microenterprise development in rural communities.
Dr. Gay began the early part of his career working for ARCO Solar where he forged the transition of single crystalline silicon from R&D to mass production. In 1994, he was elected director of NREL where he managed an annual budget of more than $235 million, with a staff of more than 1,000 employees. After his tenure at NREL, he served as president of ASE Americas.
From 2001 to 2005, Dr. Gay served as chairman of the SunPower Advisory Board joining Applied Materials in 2006 as corporate vice president and general manager of the Solar Business Group. He was named president of Applied Solar and chairman of the Applied Solar Council in 2009.
