Cadmium telluride thin film photovoltaic modules

What is a cadmium telluride solar cell?

cadmium telluride solar cell, a photovoltaic device that produces electricity from light by using a thin film of cadmium telluride (CdTe). CdTe solar cells differ from crystalline silicon photovoltaic technologies in that they use a smaller amount of semiconductor —a thin film—to convert absorbed light energy into electrons.

What is cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar technology?

Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar technology was introduced to the world in 1972 by Bonnet, D. and Rabenhorst, H. when they evaluated a Cadmium sulfide (CdS)/CdTe heterojunction which delivered a 6% efficiency. The technology has been improved to reduce manufacturing costs and increase efficiency.

What is cadmium telluride PV?

Cadmium telluride PV is the sole thin film technology having less costs than traditional solar cells produced with crystalline silicon in multi-kilowatt .

What are the advantages of a cadmium telluride solar panel?

The major advantage of this technology is that the panels can manufactured at lower costs than silicon based solar panels. First Solar was the first manufacturer of Cadmium telluride panels to produced solar cells for less than $1.00 per watt. Some experts believe it will be possible to get the solar cell costs down to around $0.5 per watt.

What is cadmium telluride (CdTe)?

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film PV modules are the primary thin film product on the global market, with more than 30 GW peak (GWp) generating capacity representing many millions of modules installed worldwide, primarily in utility-scale power plants in the US.

What are thin-film solar panels?

Thin-film solar panels are manufactured using materials that are strong light absorbers, suitable for solar power generation. The most commonly used ones for thin-film solar technology are cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), amorphous silicon (a-Si), and gallium arsenide (GaAs).