China to help Sri Lanka produce thin-film solar cells

• 6 years ago (2017-07-31)
• David Flin

Asia 847 Solar 243

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Susil Premejayantha, Sri Lanka’s Minister for Science, Technology, and Research, has said that Sri Lanka will soon be producing thin-film solar-cells on a commercial basis with technological cooperation from China as a means of popularising the use of solar panels for power generation. He said that a number of technicians were being trained in “Modern Solar Power Technology” at Colombo, Ruhuna, Jaffna, and Kelaniya universities.

“I paid a visit to China last week with some Sri Lankan scientists to obtain first-hand experience on solar power technology. The Chinese Government is helping us to develop solar power technology in Sri Lanka. I hope we will be in a position to drastically reduce the use of costly thermal power generation, which is also an environmental pollutant,” the minister said. He said producing it locally on a mass scale would help the government’s plan to phase out coal and thermal power generation, and increase solar power generation to 800 MW by 2030.

Thin-film technology has been cheaper but less efficient than conventional c-Si technology. However, quality standards have significantly improved over the years. The lab cell efficiency for CdTe and CIGS is now above 21 per cent, out-performing multi-crystalline silicon, the dominant material currently used in many solar crystalline systems.