Calyxo GmbH of Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Germany’s ‘Solar Valley’, which is a manufacturer of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar modules and a supplier of turnkey photovoltaic systems, says that its development and technology team has reached an aperture-area efficiency of >14.3% (97Wp from 0.72m2;13.5% full size area) with a new product generation that will be introduced in 2015.
Manufacturing of the new product generation has been carried out on the firm’s new production line opened a year ago. “It's a great achievement to concurrently both ramp-up a new production line and use it to meet the targeted performance goals for the new product development.” says chief technology officer/chief operating officer Dr Michael Bauer. “We can achieve over 14% efficiency with the new product generation,” he believes. “We are convinced that the unique Calyxo deposition process, in addition to its cost advantages, has the potential for the highest semiconductor layer qualities.”
Calyxo has set new product generation goals for 2015. “The pressure for us to supply higher power classes is clearly evident in the market by competitive crystalline silicon module supplier offerings,” says CEO Dr Florian Holzapfel. “In the intermediate term, Calyxo’s new-generation modules will produce more energy per installed area compared to the crystalline competition due to the better temperature coefficient [the relative change of a material property per Kelvin compared with measurement at the reference temperature: -0.25%/°K for CdTe versus -0.43%/°K for c-Si].” At temperatures above 25°C, Calyxo’s modules produce up to 10% more energy than comparable crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar modules.
“We also work on other product characteristics, which will reduce the cost of installation on the customer side,” adds Holzapfel.
The transition of development concepts into mass production is scheduled for the beginning of 2015, designated under the new module product name CX4.
