Amelio Solar, Inc., a Ewing, New Jersey-based
developer of thin-film photovoltaic technologies, unveiled the PV Duo tandem photovoltaic module.
The PV Duo combines a thin-film amorphous silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic device and a thin-film
copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) photovoltaic device into one integrated module.
Amelio solar said the module is the most efficient thin-film photovoltaic module technology, with demonstrated efficiency
as high as 13%. The company said the module also retains the important advantages of a-Si, including its ability to perform in high
temperature and low light conditions, and no carcinogenic content, as opposed to other advanced thin-film technologies such as
Cadmium Telluride and other CIGS products which use cadmium sulfide as a buffer layer.
Zoltan Kiss, founder of Amelio Solar, said the PV Duo provides a "higher-efficiency thin-film product without the dangers of cadmium.”
The PV Duo uses glass-to-glass encapsulated thin-film photovoltaic
modules. As with the a-Si and CIGS, the PV Duo consists of a glass plate to which are applied
the layers of material comprising the thin-film photovoltaic device. Unlike a-Si and CIGS,
however, which have a second glass plate that serves as a blank, protective back cover laminated
to the photovoltaic glass plate, the PV Duo utilizes the surface area of the second glass plate to
create a second photovoltaic device, initially CIGS-based, which is laminated to the first
photovoltaic glass plate, initially a-Si-based, resulting in an a-Si/CIGS four terminal tandem
module.
The company offers its PV Duo, a-Si and CIGS products in 1.0 square meter and 1.5 square meter
substrate sizes, and turn-key manufacturing systems for all products with either manual or
optional automated glass plate-handling.
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