First Solar inks collaboration deal with Intermolecular for solar PV technology

As part of the collaborative development program, First Solar will use Intermolecular’s High Productivity Combinatorial (HPC) platform to develop its CdTe-based, thin film PV manufacturing technology.

First Solar noted the program will address new opportunities in some critical materials and processes that are likely to influence the conversion efficiency of CdTe technology.

First Solar chief technology officer Raffi Garabedian said further improving the company’s CdTe conversion efficiencies remains a strong lever to reduce the cost of solar energy.

"We evaluated Intermolecular’s HPC platform and technical team in a trial collaboration, and this experience confirmed the suitability of the platform for our purposes," he added.

Technical work will be undertaken jointly at Intermolecular’s San Jose, Califonia unit and First Solar’s research and development labs.

First Solar stated its CdTe PV solar module efficiency was a record 14.4% total area efficiency in January while in July CdTe PV cell efficiency was at 17.3%, which are world records confirmed by the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL).

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