First Solar’s Malaysian operation is bringing in new technology from the company’s Ohio-based R&D centre that it says may drastically increase the amount of solar energy its panels can collect. The new technology, said to perform well in hot climates, uses thin film solar cells that can convert more than 14 per cent of the solar energy hitting the panel into electricity. The firm’s current conversion rate is about 12.6 per cent. First Solar has a goal of providing panels with up to a 15 per cent efficiency rate by 2015. Last year, its laboratory tested one cell at a 17.3 per cent conversion efficiency.
The US-headquartered solar manufacturer opened its Malaysian operation to target Southeast Asian markets, although the plant is also supplying solar panels to European, US and Indian projects.
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