Siva Power approaches 19 percent efficiency in record rime

SAN JOSE, USA: Siva Power, a leader in advanced solar energy, today announced that it has achieved near record efficiency with its CIGS panel technology - approaching 19 percent - in a record time of just 10 months.

In addition, the company welcomes leading solar energy expert, Charlie Gay, Ph.D., to its Technical Advisory Board. Dr. Gay joins Rommel Noufi, Ph.D., John Benner, and Markus Beck, Ph.D. to support Siva Power as it creates a profitable path to sub-$0.40 per watt solar power and unprecedented production scale.

Siva Power repositioned itself for success in February 2013 by transitioning to CIGS thin-film technology. In December 2013, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) certified Siva Power as achieving a laboratory efficiency of 18.8 percent - less than a year after the company shifted its technology focus.

In achieving 18.8 percent efficiency, Siva Power has nearly equaled accredited international research institutes such as NREL, the Swiss Federal Laboratory for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) and ZSW Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research, all of which have engaged in research and development (R&D) on CIGS for upwards of 20 years.

Siva Power also surpasses the majority of solar companies using CIGS technology, many of which have taken more than five years to achieve this degree of panel efficiency. Much of this success is directly attributable to the deposition approach that Siva Power has selected. All CIGS efficiency records over the past two decades have been achieved using three-stage co-evaporation. This is the method that Siva Power has elected to scale to high-volume manufacturing.