Cadmium Telluride Solar Panels Cost

Cadmium telluride is a direct band gap material with high absorption for the full spectrum.

Cadmium telluride solar panels cost.

Direct manufacturing cost for cdte pv modules reached 0 57 per watt in 2013 and capital cost per new watt of capacity is near 0 9 per watt including land and buildings. Cadmium telluride solar cells use low cost manufacturing technology to produce low cost cells. A main concern with cdte panels is pollution. Production the most common cdte solar cells consist of a simple p n heterojunction structure containing a p doped cdte layer matched with an n doped cadmium sulfide cds layer which acts as a window layer.

A prominent manufacturer is the us company first solar based in tempe arizona that produces cdte panels with an efficiency of about 14 percent at a reported cost of 0 59 per watt. Advancements in solar technology and the rapidly expanding landscape of photovoltaic arrays are raising concerns about environmental toxicity namely the use of cadmium telluride cdte in most photovoltaic pv solar cells. Cadmium by itself is one of the most toxic materials known and cadmium telluride also has some toxic properties. The question of what happens when indictments of current energy sources are also levied towards alternative sources is an important one.

Those who live near the 230 megawatt antelope valley solar ranch one want to know whether the 3 7 million cadmium telluride cdte thin film solar panels first solar will install in their desert. Excellent low light effect it works even indoor. Success of cadmium telluride pv has been due to the low cost achievable with the cdte technology made possible by combining adequate efficiency with lower module area costs.