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Solar Production Technology
Thin-film comeback planned
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Made in Asia: Thin-film giant First Solar outsources the production of many modules to the Far East currently. Otherwise, the costs do not add up. (First Solar)
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The situation in the photovoltaic industry remains strained. Manufacturers of thin-film and crystalline modules are suffering from a global oversupply, which has caused the prices to slide beneath the production cost level. In addition, the former starting advantage of the thin-film, which was that it did not have to rely on crystalline silicon as a semiconductor, has fizzled out. On the spot market, silicon is cheaper than ever before – for this reason, the industry does not currently need any alternative semiconductor and production processes to be able to manufacture cost-efficient cells. The result is a wave of bankruptcies, which washed over the first thin-film suppliers back in 2010.
Even the market leader, First Solar is floundering. It has cut back its production and is gradually withdrawing from Europe. With its cadmium-telluride modules, First Solar was the protagonist of the thin-film boom in 2008 and 2009 – there was barely a single major project which was not equipped with modules from the Americans in these years. However, the great era of thin-film power stations is past for now. According to a recent study by Boston-based market research company GTM Research, the market share of the slim-line electricity generators has dropped by half since 2009, to ten percent. Their place has been taken by multi-crystalline silicon cells, which now cover almost 60 percent of the solar market.
