MiaSole sets world record for highest efficiency of commercial scale thin-film solar modules

SANTA CLARA, USA: MiaSole, the leading manufacturer of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic solar panels, announced that the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) independently confirmed the 13.8 percent efficiency of its large area production modules (one square meter in size).

"We are pleased with our strong continued progress," said Dr. Joseph Laia, CEO of MiaSole. "The modules that we ship in 2011 will have efficiencies greater than 13%. The only reason that we are not shipping these modules today is that we are awaiting the completion of our UL certifications."

This new high efficiency will allow MiaSole to offer solar modules with the efficiency of polysilicon and the lower manufacturing costs of thin-film modules.
"We are extremely impressed by the recent MiaSole result," said Dr. Ryne Raffaelle, Director of the National Center for Photovoltaics at NREL. "This demonstration is a tremendous step forward in closing the gap between the potential of CIGS results, and what actually can be achieved in a large area production module."

MiaSole's unique manufacturing process lays CIGS on a flexible stainless steel substrate and produces all layers of this highly efficient photovoltaic material in a continuous sputtering process. MiaSole is the only thin-film solar company that uses sputtering every step of the way for coating the solar modules, thereby reducing manufacturing time and costs of production.

MiaSole will ship 6.5MW in the first half of this year and expects to ship 22MW in 2010. The company's products are designed for utilities and independent power producers to use in industrial scale deployments such as large-scale rooftop and ground mount installations.