For the first time, a pure thin film company – First Solar – is leaving the crystalline-silicon competition behind, as it strives to become the world’s biggest PV module producer in 2009. Attracted by this success and in spite of the financial crisis, several thin film newcomers have moved from pilot to commercial production.

Indeed, at first glance, the arguments in favor of thin films are still compelling:

• Very low cost: First Solar has constantly decreased its module production cost – from around $1.08 per W in the third quarter of 2008 to just 85¢ a year later, lower than any c-Si company.
• Processes & technology availability: Equipment suppliers are offering turnkey equipment, including efficiency warranties, for all major thin film technologies.
• Full integration: Thin film modules are manufactured on a fully integrated basis in-house and with a production process requiring fewer steps and capital expenditures than for a fully integrated c-Si module production.

But is the window of opportunity for thin film companies still open? Is there still time to ramp up quickly enough and optimize production yield to get processing costs down to levels so that thin film module companies can compete with their c-Si wafer-based counterparts in today’s solar markets? Or does the failure of US thin film start-up Optisolar, which once had a supply contract for 550 MW of modules, mark the beginning of the end for many other thin film companies?

This conference will provide:

• An overview on thin film market growth (total, geographical)
• Cost estimates for thin film modules compared to c-Si panels
• Case studies: Investors views on thin film manufacturing
• Company presentations of the most promising thin film producers from the US, Europe, Japan and China
• A panel discussion

PHOTON's 2^nd PV Thin Film Conference is a forum for all decision makers – from management and leading scientists to investors, big system operators and representatives of electric utilities – involved or interested in thin film PV.