Toward GW/year of CIGS production within the next decade

A detailed study carried out in 1996–1997 showed that manufacturing cost of crystalline silicon PV modules could be lowered to 1 ECU/Wp when the c-Si annual module production level reaches 500 MWp while an annual production of only 60 MWp would lower production cost of thin-film PV modules to 0.6 ECU/Wp. During 1976–2003, the PV module price has followed the 80% learning curve with cumulative production volume. However, the price reduction has slowed since because of the polysilicon supply problem. Because of their high potential for improvement, thin-film PV and especially copper (Cu)–indium (In)–gallium (Ga)–selenide (Se)-sulfide (CIGS) technology have the potential for growing at the fastest rate and consequently not only to complement the lagging c-Si PV production but also to assist in following the 80% learning curve. This paper reviews the CIGS PV manufacturing processes in comparison to those of other PV technologies and predicts that annual production volume of CIGS thin-film PV modules will exceed 1 GW/year within the next 10 years.