The reliability of thin film is questionable in comparison with the emergence and production of competitive and low-cost crystalline silicon solar panels.
Thin Film Solar Cells Market size exceeded USD 2 billion in 2022 and is projected to expand at more than 9% CAGR from 2023 to 2032, owing to the rising dependency on renewable energy for electricity generation.
With intense R&D efforts in materials science, several new thin-film PV technologies have emerged that have high potential, including perovksite solar cells, Copper zinc tin sulfide (Cu 2 ZnSnS 4, CZTS) solar cells, and quantum dot (QD) solar cells. 6.1. Perovskite materials
The three major thin film solar cell technologies include amorphous silicon (α-Si), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and cadmium telluride (CdTe). In this paper, the evolution of each technology is discussed in both laboratory and commercial settings, and market share and reliability are equally explored.
CIGS and CdTe hold the greatest promise for the future of thin film. Longevity, reliability, consumer confidence and greater investments must be established before thin film solar cells are explored on building integrated photovoltaic systems. 1.
With regards to materials availability, thin film PV technologies utilize a variety of chemical elements ranging in abundance and production. The material constrained growth of installed capacity in the year 2020 is estimated at about 20 GWp/year for CdTe, 70 GWp/year for CIGS, and 200 GWp/year for a-Si: Ge .