CdTe, CIGS and a-Si thin film PV technologies: factors impacting LCOE

We describe thin film photovoltaic (PV) technologies that have been scaled in manufacturing, and contrast their attributes and how they impact the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The thin film PV technologies reviewed include cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), amorphous silicon (a-Si), and microcrystalline/amorphous silicon (μ/a-Si) produced by a variety of methods. The factors studied include conversion efficiency, energy yield under different lighting and environmental conditions, location dependence, tracked/fixed tilt differential performance, uptime, output degradation rate, failure rate, lifetime, module cost, balance of system (BOS) and inverter cost, installation cost, land cost, operation cost, maintenance cost and finance cost. These thin film PV technologies are compared with crystalline silicon, the most widely deployed PV technology.