tandem cells

Move over pesky perovskites and old faithful intrinsic amorphous silicon as the preferred solutions for tandem-junction solar cell post crystalline-silicon PERC (passivated emitter rear cell) technology: A perennial conversion efficiency record holder and space-proven solution is back to gate-crash the party.

The Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has set a new R&D goal to develop a commercially viable thin-film-on-silicon tandem solar cell with 30% conversion efficiencies.

Researchers at Solliance and ECN have fabricated a 6 inch industrially processed c-Si cell with a perovskite top layer that is mechanically stacked using ECN’s MWT-SHJ (metal-wrap-through silicon heterojunction) design that has achieved conversion efficiencies of 26.3%. The work was published during the Silicon PV/nPV conference, in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have reported dual-junction and triple-junction cell efficiency gains.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) launched its new investment plan prioritising how to use US$800 million worth of funds in the next few years, with solar PV innovation one of the main new areas of focus.

Perovskite start-up Oxford PV is developing a pilot-line in Germany that will bring its cells closer to commercialisation.