SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MiaSolé, the leading manufacturer of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic solar panels, today announced that the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) independently confirmed the 14.3% efficiency of its large area production modules (1 square meter in size).

14.3% module efficiency is the highest independently confirmed efficiency for any commercial scale CIGS module technology.

“We are pleased that we continue to make progress in the execution of our technology, cost reduction and manufacturing roadmaps,” said Dr. Joseph Laia, CEO of MiaSolé.

MiaSolé now offers bank financeable solar modules with efficiency comparable to polysilicon combined with lower manufacturing costs of thin-film modules.

MiaSolé's unique manufacturing process deposits CIGS on a flexible stainless steel substrate and produces all of the layers required for its highly efficient solar cell in a single continuous process. MiaSolé is the only thin-film solar company that uses sputtering processes every step of the way for coating the solar modules, thereby reducing manufacturing time and cost of production.

MiaSolé shipped 6.5MW in the first half of this year, and will ship 22MW in 2010. The company's products are designed for utilities and independent power producers to use in industrial scale deployments such as large-scale rooftop and ground mount installations.

About NREL

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

About MiaSolé (www.MiaSolé.com)

MiaSolé is a pioneer and leading developer of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic solar panels, one of the lowest-cost, highest efficiency solar panels in the world. MiaSolé's primary mission is to advance the extraordinary potential for harnessing solar power as a competitive, sustainable energy source and enable grid parity by 2012. Based in California, MiaSolé currently operates two manufacturing facilities with plans to open a third facility in 2010.