Solar Frontier recently announced two agreements that involved the supply of over 23MW of its CIS solar panels.
Last week, Solar Frontier provided details of a module supply agreement with US-based NRG Solar LLC for 13.2 megawatts (MW) of Solar Frontier CIS thin film solar panels; which were shipped to NRG this month. This was the first purchase of thin film CIS technology in NRG Solar’s history.
Solar Frontier also announced today it had supplied 10MW of CIS thin-film solar modules to the new Mt. Komekura Solar Power Plant in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. The solar farm will generate around 12 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, enough to provide the power needs of an estimated 3,400 households and avoid 5,100 tons of carbon emissions annually.
The Mt. Komekura Solar Power Plant is a component of Yamanashi Prefecture’s Global Warming Countermeasures Plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Solar Frontier’s panels have become increasing popular in recent times. While many thin film modules incorporate cadmium based materials; Solar Frontier’s panels instead using copper, indium and selenium (CIS). A closely related technology is CIGS, where gallium is also used.
According to the company, the “light soaking” attribute of CIS modules significantly boosts output, while a lower temperature coefficient of 0.31%/K – which is around 30-50% lower than many crystalline solar panels – results in more electricity generated in hotter climates such as Australia. It’s these two features the company says result in higher performance than rated value.
Solar Frontier says manufacturing their modules involves lower overall energy consumption and fewer steps in production; meaning faster energy payback times.
Tokyo-based Solar Frontier is the world’s leader in CIS/CIGS thin film solar panel production and operates the gigawatt-scale Kunitomi Plant in Japan, one of the world’s largest solar module factories. The company is a subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K.
