Is CIGS Ready for High Volume Manufacturing?

Published: January 04, 2012    Category: Advanced Materials Renewable Energy

It is beginning to look like CIGS really is ready for high volume manufacturing.  Global Solar now has a 40 MW capacity plant operating in Tucson Arizona and a 35 MW capacity plant coming on line in Berlin Germany.  The Berlin plant has moved from one to two shifts per day and is planning to move to three shifts soon.  The flexible BIPV roofing modules made by Global Solar are both International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certified.  Global Solar has recently announced multi-year, multi-megawatt agreements with ENERGYKA, ISCOM SPA, BA energy in Europe and Beachside Solar, Pfister Energy and Inovateus Solar in the US. 

It is not surprising that CIGS is the last thin-film technology to be successful in high volume manufacturing.  It is the newest of the thin-film technologies and by its nature as a quaternary alloy, has deposition conditions that are more challenging than those for either the two component CdTe technology or the doped silicon films in a-Si. 

Another indication that CIGS is ready for high volume manufacturing is the entry of established high volume, technical manufacturing companies such as TSMC into the field.  The entry of TSMC with its established record of efficient and cost effective high volume manufacturing bodes well for CIGS PV technology.

While start ups have advantages in agility, established technology firms such as TSMC have development and fan out to high volume manufacturing as core competencies. They also have a much higher probability of success for bringing new technologies such as CIGS into high volume production than many of the CIGS start ups that have stumbled in years past.  Semiconductor companies are especially well suited to thin-film solar, as they are very experienced in developing complex thin-film depositions. 

Companies such as TSMC also have established relationships with the equipment suppliers, which also gives such firms an advantage over start ups.  TSMC plans to have 1 GW of capacity for CIGS available in 3-5 years.  It has committed $258 million on a facility in Taichung that will provide 100 MW of capacity by the end of 2012 and another 100 MW in 2013, with an additional 700 MW coming on line in the next 3-5 years.

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