Advances In Technology Give Manufacturing Edge Adaptable Organisation - As First Solar Vindicates US Investment

by Benson Agoha | Technology

* With a new technology US now makes cheaper solar panels.

Realization of a cleaner energy source may be closer than expected going by advances in technology occasioned by massive investment in research, according to an Industry Week report.

First Solar Inc. discovered they could use a different technology, a thin film of cadmium-telluride, which even still has more room to improve. The result has been amazing.

Raffi Garabedian, the Tempe, Ariz.-based company’s chief technology officer said its theoretical peak stood at 30%, and his team this year reached a record 22.1% in a laboratory cell, using improvements that will eventually be applied at its factories.

First Solar’s gains are the result of improvements in efficiency, the amount of energy in sunlight that can be converted into electricity.

But it took a massive investment of about $775 (£530.6) million in technology. The company now produces panels for as little as 40 cents a watt, or about 15% less than China’s Trina Solar Ltd, the report said.

The investments made over the past five years have increased efficiency by almost 50% and wrung costs from the manufacturing process.

In fact, the projection is that by 2019, First Solar’s module cost could be as low as 25 cents a watt, according to analysts’ models.

The advantage over other manufacturers comes through the ability to adapt. Organisations that can adapt with time, stand a better chance of beating the competition.

(* With contribution from Industry Week).