太阳能面板技术瓶颈阴云笼罩汉能前景

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Brian Spegele and Wayne Ma, 太阳能面板技术瓶颈阴云笼罩汉能前景. 华尔街日报中文网, June 23, 2015
cn.wsj.com/gb/20150623/rth142541.asp

, which is translated from

Brian Spegele and Wayne Ma, Hanergy’s Prospects Dimmed By Solar Panels’ Quality, Analysts Say. China Real Time, June 22, 2015.
blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/06/22/hanergys-prospects-dimmed-by-solar-panels-quality-analysts-say/

Quote:

"Thin film’s technical constraints — in particular, conversion efficiency rates that are generally lower than crystalline-silicon panels — are a big reason for the low market share.  Take amorphous silicon, or a-si, as it’s known in the industry. * * * a-si makes up the majority of Hanergy’s production capacity today. But Hanergy’s panels had conversion efficiency rates well below 10%, according to two former employees, compared with the industry average of about 15%.

"Moreover, Hanergy’s a-si panels are susceptible to degradation–basically meaning a decline in the amount of power the panels can put out. The former employees said Hanergy’s a-si panels degraded at double-digit rates in the first two years of operation, compared with less than 1% for crystalline silicon panels.

"Hanergy widened its options through the purchase of overseas companies developing other types of thin-film technology. The company acquired Germany-based Solibro GmbH in 2012. * * * With the overseas acquisitions, Hanergy expanded its thin-film portfolio to include technology known as CIGS — short for copper indium gallium selenium. CIGS is viewed as promising technology in the industry, with the highest efficiencies among all thin-film technologies, according to CLSA analyst Charles Yonts. Solibro says the company’s thin-film modules can offer efficiencies higher than 13%. * * *  [However] CIGS can suffer stability issues in hot or humid environments, according to CLSA.

Note:
(a) thin film solar cell
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_film_solar_cell
(section 2 Materials: cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), amorphous silicon (a-Si), gallium arsenide (GaAs))

(b) The a-Si (used in thin film solar cell) is distinct from traditional crystalline silicon (c-Si). The latter encompasses
(i) multicrystalline silicon (multi-Si; also known as polycrystalline silicon; with the characteristic blue color we often see) and
(ii) monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si).

(c) Founded in 2009 and based in Taichung, TSMC Solar--still in research phase (ie, not commercializing yet) on Apr 29, 2015 set CIGS 16.5% efficiency (world) record, improving on its previous record of 15.7% set in 2013.