GE has confirmed long-standing speculation that it
plans to make thin-film
solar panels that use a cadmium- and tellurium-based semiconductor
to capture light and convert it into electricity. The GE move could put
pressure on the
only major cadmium-telluride solar-panel maker, Tempe, AZ-based First Solar, which could drive down prices for solar
panels.
Last year, GE seemed to be getting out of the solar industry as it sold off crystalline-silicon solar-panel factories it had acquired in 2004. The company found that the market for such solar panels--which account for most of the solar panels sold worldwide--was too competitive for a relative newcomer, says Danielle Merfeld, GE's solar technology platform leader.
She says cadmium-telluride solar is attractive to GE in part because, compared to silicon, there's still a lot to learn about the physics of cadmium telluride, which suggests it could be made more efficient, which in turn can lower the cost per watt of solar power. It's also potentially cheaper to make cadmium-telluride solar panels than it is to make silicon solar cells, making it easier to compete with established solar-panel makers. Merfeld says GE was encouraged by the example of First Solar, which has consistently undercut the prices of silicon solar panels--and because of this has quickly grown from producing almost no solar panels just a few years ago to being one of the world's largest solar manufacturers today.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Technology Review: GE to Make Thin-Film Solar Panels
Author: Kevin
Bullis
