[amor de cosmos]

First Solar Crushes CdTe Solar PV Efficiency Record
Can cadmium telluride PV efficiency give silicon a run for its money?
Eric Wesoff: April 9, 2013

First Solar (FSLR), the thin-film solar leader, just announced a new cadmium telluride solar module efficiency record that absolutely crushes the previous record, also held by First Solar.

First Solar achieved an NREL-confirmed efficiency of 16.1 percent, which erases the previous record of 14.4 percent that the firm set last year. First Solar also set a high mark for CdTe open-circuit voltage, an indicator of PV panel performance, hitting 903.2 millivolts. In addition, First Solar set a new world record for CdTe solar cell efficiency of 18.7 percent last month.

Setting records is one thing, translating that to commercial shipments is another -- and it's something First Solar has done well over the years.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...iciency-Record

IEA: Global solar capacity nearing 100GW milestone
By Nilima Choudhury - 10 April 2013, 11:17
In News, Power Generation

Despite the uncertainties plaguing the European and Chinese markets in particular, a new report has revealed that 28.4GW of solar PV capacity was installed in 2012, bringing total global capacity to 89.5GW.

The report, Snapshot of Global PV by the International Energy Agency, looked at 23 countries. It said that another estimated 7GW of capacity is in the pipeline which would increase the total to 96.5GW from 2011’s 28.9GW.

And the agency said that with installations worlwide difficult to quantify with precision, the 100GW milestone has already been passed in the first quarter of this year.

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/report_g...es_almost_90gw

UK adds 350MW in Q1 2013
By Nilima Choudhury - 10 April 2013, 10:55
In News, Power Generation

In line with positive predictions for the UK solar industry, the country has completed at least 350MW of solar installations in the first quarter of 2013.

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), this includes a record number of large ground-mounted PV projects, which were able to take advantage of higher incentive rates before cuts came into effect on 1 April.

The UK has two separate incentive programmes, a feed-in tariff scheme for primarily small-scale PV systems and a Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) scheme for larger systems. Incentives under the ROC were reduced at the start of this month, while FiT rates will be cut on 1 May.

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/uk_adds_350mw_in_q1_2013