April 8, 2014: First Solar Sets Thin-Film Module Efficiency World Record of 17 Percent
Highest Thin-Film Panel Conversion Efficiency of Any Technology
NEW YORK — First Solar Inc. announced that it has set a world record for cadmium-telluride (CdTe) solar photovoltaic (PV) module conversion efficiency, achieving a record 17 percent total area module efficiency in tests performed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The new record is an increase over the prior record of 16.1 percent efficiency, which the company set in April 2013. This announcement comes weeks after First Solar announced it achieved a world record in CdTe research cell efficiency of 20.4 percent.
The record-setting module was created at First Solar’s Research and Development Center in Perrysburg, Ohio, using production-scale processes and materials, and included several recent technology enhancements that are incrementally being implemented on the company’s commercial production lines.