High efficiency and large volume production of CIS-based modules

Solar Frontier has grown steadily since opening its first 20MW plant for Cu(InGa)(SeS)
₂
(CIS-based) photovoltaic modules in 2007, and now has gigawatt-scale manufacturing capacity, including one of the world's largest plants, the Kunitomi Plant, which opened in 2011 in Miyazaki, Japan. We have also developed the thin, lightweight CIS-based modules from its 60MW MP2 factory. In R&D, we have boasted world-class capabilities, achieving a world-record conversion efficiency of 20.9% with a cadmium-free CIS-based solar cell (approx. 0.5 cm
²
). Regarding 30×30cm
²
-sized submodule, we have also achieved the world highest-class efficiency of 17.8%. Recently, we decided to construct the 4th plant with the nominal production capacity of 150MW in Tohoku region of Japan, and the new plant is scheduled to start production in March 2015. The latest high efficiency technique and low cost mass-production technology will be applied to this plant, and it will also serve as a blueprint for future manufacturing facilities outside of Japan for our next step toward global growth. In this paper, recent progresses of our manufacturing and R&D for CIS-based solar cells will be presented.