Ascent Solar has announced that it has reached a new milestone in manufacturing. The company has managed to push its flexible substrate to 14% cell efficiency of Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenide (CIGS), a product produced at Fab1 (1.5MW) commercial production plant.

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewal Energy Laboratory (NREL) measured the efficiency of the cell and has gotten the same results 14.01% for the Ascent Solar CIGS material.

The monolithically integrated CIGS modules manufactured at the Fab1 (1.5MW) plant in Littleton, CO, have also reached a peak efficiency of 11.7%, adding to the positive news from Ascent Solar.

Dr. Farhad Mogahadam, President & CEO for Ascent Solar said, "This is a significant breakthrough in demonstrating our ability to achieve thin film CIGS cells with 14% efficiency from regular production machines. Ascent Solar's ability to manufacturer monolithically integrated modules with efficiency as high as 11.7% in regular production serves as a vital element to our low cost per watt manufacturing goal."