U.S. CdTe (cadmium telluride) thin film solar module manufacturer First Solar Inc. President Bruce Sohn 24 held at the Las Vegas conference that is expected in 2014 the company's thin-film solar cell production costs is expected by 2009 Q1 of 0.93 U.S. dollars per watt down to 0.52-0.63 dollars, and energy conversion efficiency is expected from the current 10.9% to 12.5%.
According to reports, CdTe thin film solar cells of the highest conversion efficiency was 16.5%, from the United States reached a National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In addition, SunPower Corp. Just recently introduced a 19.3 percent conversion efficiency of the polysilicon solar cells.
Well-known U.S. financial weekly Barron `s previously reported, First Solar thin film solar cell conversion efficiency of 11% only, which is lower than silicon solar cells 20%, while the company also said that if the polysilicon price around 50 U.S. dollars per kilogram , its cost advantage will disappear. As the supply of the serious oversupply of polysilicon by the end of March from a year ago the price of 450 U.S. dollars per kg down to about 100 dollars.
Jun. 26, 2009
First Solar: 5 years, the cost of production is expected to drop 1/3
First Solar is likely to exceed this year the performance of Q-Cells
The world's leading management consulting firm Navigant Consulting in the Paula Mints, principal analyst in London last week at the Economic Forum pointed out that solar energy, solar power in 2009 the U.S. film giant First Solar will exceed China's Suntech Power and Japan's Sharp to become the world's largest photovoltaic component manufacturers. In the production of solar cells, First Solar is also expected to more than Germany's Q-Cells, the world's largest manufacturer of solar cells.
2008 global production of thin-film solar cells of 892MW, an increase of 123%. As the industry leader, First Solar 2008 solar years, production capacity reached 503MW, to reach the location of the second industry. In addition, fourth quarter 2008 average production of First Solar's cost has been reduced to 0.98 U.S. dollars per watt, is the world's first production cost is lower than 1 U.S. dollars per watt of solar energy manufacturers, which makes the company's products are highly competitive in the market . In the global photovoltaic substantial losses giant, First Solar net income for the quarter reached 132.8 million U.S. dollars, and full-year 2008 revenue of First Solar from the 2007 growth of 504 million U.S. dollars to 1.2463 billion U.S. dollars.
In the first quarter of 2009, as European countries, especially in the field of solar energy in Spain in the event of a major policy change, the global PV market caused a sharp contraction, most photovoltaic enterprises operating conditions of the first quarter is generally not an ideal situation, First Solar is very good performance. The first quarter of the company's revenues reached 418.2 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 112%.
Jun. 22, 2009
