Manz with new efficiency world record for CIGS solar modules
With a module efficiency of 16 percent, Manz AG is presenting a new efficiency world record for CIGS thin-film solar modules at SNEC in Shanghai. In doing so, Manz is pushing forward into a new dimension and closing the efficiency gap that has previously existed in the multi-crystalline technology that is still prevalent today.
In the fall of 2014, the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research of Baden-Wuerttemberg (ZSW), Manz's exclusive development partner, was able to demonstrate the superiority of CIGS technology in comparison to crystalline solar cells in the laboratory, with a world-record efficiency of 21.7 percent in cell format. With Manz's new world record for module size, this superiority has now been impressively proven in production. The significance of this result is all the greater since the high-tech equipment manufacturer produced the world record module on its innovative production line for CIGS technology at its location in Schwäbisch Hall, on equipment for mass production.
The significant increase in performance was achieved mainly by the next generation of CIGS semiconductor material, which Manz applies to a glass substrate in the so-called co-evaporation process. Additional technological innovation is a new module design for increasing the active module surface. In addition, Manz engineers were able to sustainably reduce optical losses.
Dieter Manz, founder and CEO of Manz AG, is extremely satisfied with the consistent, continued development of CIGS thin-film technology by his engineers: "Our performance parameters are world-class. With significantly lower production costs compared to crystalline solar cells, CIGS technology will play a large role in the coming investment cycle of the photovoltaics industry," Dieter Manz is convinced.