Tokyo-based Solar Frontier - the largest manufacturer of CIS (copper indium selenium) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar modules – and TSK Group of Gijón, Spain (a business group in engineering development and the supply of energy and industrial facilities) have announced plans for a 5MW CIS solar photovoltaic (PV) energy facility in Kuwait. The new installation will be used to evaluate the performance of CIS in Kuwaiti desert conditions as part of the government's Shagaya Renewable Energy Project. Solar Frontier was due to start shipping its CIS modules at the beginning of December and TSK will handle construction as well as operation of the site for the next six years. The new plant is scheduled to begin operating in June 2016.
The Shagaya Renewable Energy Project is part of the Innovative Renewable Energy Research program run by the government entity Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). The first stage of this program consists of testing the performance of multiple renewable energy facilities, including PV, concentrated solar power (CSP) and wind.
TSK has been selected to construct the first 10MW PV project (consisting of two 5MW PV plants) as well as a 50MW CSP plant. Solar Frontier′s CIS modules comprise one of the 5MW PV facilities and will be compared to a side-by-side crystalline silicon PV plant to help Kuwaiti authorities evaluate the suitability of PV technologies for subsequent phases of the project and other similar facilities to be developed in the future.
"CIS modules are particularly well suited for tough conditions such as in the desert in Kuwait," says Wolfgang Lange, managing director of Solar Frontier Europe. "One of the reasons is because CIS modules are less affected by high temperatures, as indicated by their lower temperature coefficient. When all of the real-world performance advantages of CIS are combined, the result is higher energy yield – or kilowatt-hours per kilowatt-peak – compared to crystalline silicon," he adds. "With the engineering expertise of TSK, we look forward to further demonstrating the performance and quality advantages of our CIS technology outside of the lab and in real-world environments."
The project with TSK will make Kuwait the 50th country to install Solar Frontier's CIS modules as the solar energy developer continues to expand its global footprint from its manufacturing base in southern Japan.
