INL integrates 2019 White Paper on CIGS solar power technology

Pedro Salomé, INL group leader of the Nanofabrication for Optoelectronic Applications group, is a co-author in the 2019 CIGS White Paper. Spearheaded by the Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg, the document is the photovoltaic reference document in the market with a complete technical and policy description of the CIGS technology benefits and state-of-the-art achievements.

Cu(In, Ga)Se2 or CIGS, is a complex multinary semiconductor that is extremely efficient absorbing light and converting it into electricity. The CIGS thin-film photovoltaic technology has a very high electrical performance and many advantages like the possibility of being flexible, low-weight, and very sensitive to low-light conditions, to name a few. With its production cost and levelized cost of electricity already reduced when compared with conventional Silicon technology, CIGS has the potential to be a force to reckon with in the Photovoltaics market.

From an investor point of view, CIGS has some of the lowest capex and opex numbers for industrial applications lowering investment costs and maximising turnover. From a consumer point of view, CIGS is a better investment as solar modules present some of the highest energy yields, are among the most stable ones while presenting a moderate to low cost. INL has four different groups working with CIGS technology and, in particular, the Nanofabrication for Optoelectronic Applications group, with several external funded projects, patent submissions and company partnerships, is helping the production cost of this technology to drop even further by developing novel solar cell architectures that allow for higher performance at a lower production cost.

The 2019 CIGS White Paper can be downloaded here.