Silicon vs. CIGS in solar
Monday, October 2nd, 2006CNET’s News.com has this informative piece that discusses the difference between silicon and CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) in the production of solar PV cells. Most solar cells today are based on silicon, but a number of startups entering the market — NanoSolar, HelioVolt, and Miasole, to name a few — believe CIGS-based thin film cells are cheaper to make, easier to install and will catch up to silicon in terms of efficiency. Silicon has an edge right now because you can leverage existing research and a trillion-dollar infrastructure built around it, but there’s also a shortage of solar-grade silicon so this is limiting growth. Is CIGS the answer? Or will silicon continue to reign supreme?
Tyler Hamilton is associate publisher and editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and former business columnist for the Toronto Star. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005.
