The record-setting CdTe thin film solar PV cell was constructed at the company’s Perrysburg, Ohio factory and R&D center using processes and materials – including the glass substrate – that are designed for commercial-scale manufacturing.

"This achievement showcases the huge potential of CdTe compared to other PV technologies and highlights the performance gains we continue to achieve thanks to our consistent and strong investment in R&D," said Raffi Garabedian, First Solar’s Chief Technology Officer. "We are confident the advanced technologies and processes we developed for this record-setting cell will further enhance the performance of our future production modules and power plants."

First Solar has continued to transfer its success in the R&D lab into its commercial modules, increasing its average production module efficiency to 12.9% in the fourth quarter of 2012, up 0.7 percentage points from 12.2% in the fourth quarter of 2011. The company’s lead line was producing modules with 13.1% efficiency during the fourth quarter, up from 12.6% in the same period a year ago.

First Solar utilises a continuous manufacturing process which transforms a sheet of glass into a complete solar module in less than 2.5 hours. Since it began commercial production in 2002, First Solar says it has produced more than 90mn of its advanced thin-film solar modules with a capacity of over 7GW, enough to provide clean electricity for approximately 3.5mn homes and displace 4.7mn metric tons of CO2 annually, based on world averages.