Thin-film solar company NexPower, a subsidiary of United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), announced that it has received 30MWp in module orders from an India client for applications in solar farms, and shipments will begin in March 2011. NexPower shipped 73.8MWp in 2010, up six-fold from a year earlier.

NexPower indicated that in high-temperature environments, thin-film technology can produce more power versus mainstream crystalline silicon solar cells, and hence many clients in Southeast Asia are glad to adopt thin-film solutions.

NexPower shipped 50,000 tandem thin-film modules to Germany-based solar system company Solar GmbH for 4MWp and 3MWp solar farms in Luptitz and Lauta. Both farms were grid connected in 2010.

NexPower shipped 604,000 modules in 2010 compared with 103,000 units in 2009.

NexPower has over a hundred patents and has placed great emphasis on the development of building integrated PV (BIPV). The company has developed color BIPV solutions and products that combine solar technology with indoor LED lighting.

According to research firm Photon, the world's top-ten thin-film solar companies are US-based First solar with 1.4GWp in capacity. Japan's Sharp and US-based United Solar in second and third with capacity of 200MWp and 150MWp, respectively. Trony, Q-Cells, Solar Frontier, Solydra, Global Solar, Kaneka and MHI round out the top-ten. Though, NexPower has capacity of 100MWp, it was not listed by the research firm.