First Solar Sets Efficiency Record: 17.3 Percent

Greentech Media
First Solar today announced that it has produced a cadmium telluride solar cell with a 17.3% efficiency, shattering a ten year old record set by NREL [16.7%]. (...) The solar cell won't go into production soon, but might help ease some concerns that cadmium telluride is approaching an efficiency ceiling. (...)
The average efficiency, however, is comparatively on the low side. First Solar boosted its average efficiency to 11.7%: that's up from the 11.1% efficiency for the same period the year before but below the efficiencies (14 to 20%) seen in crystalline silicon solar panels and 12% plus efficiencies seen in copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar modules. Module efficiency is typically a few points lower than cell efficiency.