IEEE: Photovoltaics

[Michael O'Dell]

andre kesteloot wrote:
> http://spectrum.ieee.org/aug08/6464
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the big problem with CdTe cells is that Cadmium
is a Nasty Heavy Metal which is specifically
targeted by the RoHS regs.

it seems that in many places, using CdTe cells
will require somebody, possibly First Solar,
to take out decommissioning bonds, promising
to collect all the Nasty Stuff at some arbitrarily
distant point in the future. if this happens
large-scale, it will be very difficult for the
company to fund that kind of bonding requirement
at anything like significant scale.

that's why CIGS - Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenide -
is viewed as ultimately a better play that CdTe.
None of those materials are RoHS targets.
historically, CIGS have been harder to make than
CdTe, but that's being addressed by Heliovolt
with their FASST technology for printing thin-film
CIGS.

	-mo