Solar Researchers Gather at Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization

Solar Researchers Gather at Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization

More than 100 researchers, engineers and students from leading national laboratories, universities and industry partners recently gathered to share insights and advance the development of a thin-film photovoltaic technology at The University of Toledo.

UToledo's Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization hosted the ninth annual Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) Photovoltaics Workshop, sponsored by the U.S. Manufacturing of Advanced Cadmium Telluride Photovoltaics (US-MAC), at the Brady Engineering Innovation Center on Thursday, Oct. 23, and Friday, Oct. 24.

This is the second year in a row that the center has hosted the international workshop.

Cadmium telluride is the type of thin-film photovoltaic technology that has driven First Solar's manufacturing expansion in northwest Ohio. Thin-film photovoltaic technology has long been a research focus at UToledo's Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization, which became a founding member of the US-MAC in 2021.

UToledo's Dr. Michael Heben, Dr. Randall Ellingson, Dr. Yanfa Yan, Dr. Tom Fiducia and Tyler Brau were among the oral presenters during the two-day workshop, which also encompassed a poster session higlighting more than 30 projects from across the cadmium telluride research community.

Funding for the workshop was provided Colorado State University, First Solar and the Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization.