Stion Corp of San Jose, CA, USA, which makes nanostructure-based CIGSSe (copper indium gallium sulphur-diselenide) thin-film photovoltaic panels, has received a $2m award from the US Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative to continue pilot production and scale-up of its thin film modules based on proprietary tandem junction technology.
The award is a Tier 2 grant under the Sunshot's Incubator 7 Program and is designed to accelerate the transition to commercial production. Stion is expanding production at both its San Jose headquarters and its first mass-production facility, in Hattiesburg, MS (opened earlier this year). The latest grant is a follow-on to the Tier 1 award given to Stion in February 2011. As part of Tier 1, Stion advanced its technology into the commercial prototype stage and produced tandem junction prototype modules at 18.8% aperture efficiency (the highest for any module prototype based on thin-film technology, it is claimed).
"Our progress on the tandem technology demonstrates that thin films can achieve industry-leading efficiencies on a scalable, low-cost production platform," says president & CEO Chet Farris.
Stion says that its unique approach to thin-film PV leverages proprietary materials and device expertise along with a robust, high-volume manufacturing process based on readily available, standardized equipment. In March the firm began shipments of products based on its single-junction CIGSSe technology, and has produced commercial modules with aperture efficiency as high as 15.6%.
Stion says that the tandem junction module would increase efficiency by enabling broader and more effective harvesting of available light using an additional thin-film device. It utilizes mechanically stacked top and bottom devices to eliminate the design and manufacturing challenges associated with traditional junction integration, and maintains the same glass/glass packaging design as Stion's current commercial modules.
