It’s becoming apparent that 2012 may be called the year of CIGS PV. Following years of expectations for Cadmium Telluride (CadTel) to lead the way for thin-film PV, CIGS (copper, indium gallium selenide) PV is taking center stage. Most recently, CIGS manufacturer SoloPower, Inc. announced that retired four-star General Wesley Clark would join its board of directors as an independent director.

The announcement came the day Clark delivered the keynote speech at PV America West conference in San Jose, Calif., which began on March 19.

Clark’s appointment comes as the company nears completion on its first commercial-scale manufacturing line in Oregon.

“We’re implementing our first line now with nameplate capacity of 100 megawatts. We’ll be running at that rate toward the end of this year,” said SoloPower CEO Tim Harris.

The announcement also comes shortly after the company announced that its third generation of modules achieved aperture area efficiency of 13.4 percent as measured by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. CIGS offers a low-cost, thin-film technology with higher efficiency potential than older thin-film technologies, and it can fit a variety of form factors.

“It would be very difficult to make CadTel flexible. That whole market was really enabled by CIGS,” Harris said

The timing of the announcements is important for the company, according to Harris.

“The combination of Wes’s insight and experience and knowledge of the industry and people in the world make him a terrific director,” he said.

Clark’s knowledge of the solar and renewables industry expands beyond just military and remote applications, according to Harris.

“Wes thought deeply about whole sales channel and ways solar can combine with other renewables and how they can come together,” Harris said. “He’s passionately interested in renewable energy broadly and how it fits in the world.”

Clark will likely be an active board member.

“Judging from the first week, he’s going to be incredibly active. He’s one of these people that’s incredibly bright and has an incredible energy,” Harris said.

In his first week as a director, Clark already has reached out to many potential clients to work on ways SoloPower can appeal to a broader audience.

The company already has contracted most of its production volume for the next two years, Harris said.

“The Majority of our volume has been spoken for internationally,” he said. Most of the international demand is coming from Europe and Asia.