First Solar is a company that claims to have turned up to twenty-two-point-one percent of sunlight energy into electricity with some trial cells created with cadmium telluride. Ninety-five percent of the global solar power market excludes this technology. So far, First Solar cells for commercial use boast a conversion efficiency of up to sixteen-point-four percent.
Compared to silicon solar panels, cadmium telluride cells’ maximum conversion efficiency is above thirty percent. Being the only main producer of cadmium telluride solar panels in the US, First Solar has been extremely busy trying to bring its technologies closer to the limit mentioned above.
Cadmium telluride solar panels could be more efficient than silicon-based ones that make up to ninety percent of the solar power market now.
READ ALSO: 10 Reasons Why Solar PhotoVoltaic Has Reached the Escape Velocity
Offering a very thin-film cell technology, cadmium telluride operates very close to its efficiency limit, especially, when installed in hot, humid regions. These thin-film cells are less expensive to come up with too; although, they have been less recognized in the past few years.
First Solar does not do rooftop solar panels installations. Instead, it has made solar farms that are considered the largest worldwide. Some of these include the Californian Topaz and Desert Sunlight projects that produce up to 550 megawatts.
A cadmium telluride thin-film cell is cheaper to make with few resources, and a simpler production process is needed to create the amount of power that the traditional silicon technology creates. Principally, this should reduce the cost of electricity.
But in reality, and according to GTM Research, in the coming year, the cost of silicon panels will reduce to zero-point-three-six dollars per watt. As for the First Solar’s 2013 production cost figures, its cost per watt was at zero-point-five-seven dollars.
For More Info Visit The Company’s Website
