Cadmium telluride solar cells power plants compared to crystalline silicon

This work aims to review the perspective of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film (TF) solar cells (SCs). Capacity factors and reported costs of power plants adopting CdTe photovoltaic (PV) solar panels are compared to alternative designs such as crystalline Si. Of the 9 largest PV facilities in the United States, 6 have been built adopting the CdTe TF technology, with the same developer, and 3 of them the crystalline Si technology with different developers. All these 6 CdTe TF PV facilities show a penalty rather than an advantage in the annual average capacity factor, about 10% less, compared to the 3 designed with crystalline Si modules at plant costs that were comparable. All these 9 facilities were located in areas of similarly good resources. While the observed negative difference may be partially explained by differences in the tracking system, the advantage of the technology is mostly commercial in the specific United States market, rather than the global techno-economical. The emergence of higher efficiency mass-produced monocrystalline Si and Si heterojunction solar cells may further increase the gap. The main reason to support the CdTe TF SCs technology is thus the claim of a more environmentally friendly product, however reliant on subjective life cycle assessments.