Trina Solar has announced that its State Key Laboratory of PV Science and Technology of China has made new world records for high efficiency p-type and n-type silicon solar cells.
The p-type mono-crystalline silicon solar cell on an industrial Cz wafer that integrates innovative technologies like back surface passivation and local back surface field has attained 21.40 percent efficiency.
Fraunhofer ISE CalLab in Germany has confirmed these results. The same advanced cell technologies on a high quality multi-crystalline Si wafer resulted in a new champion p-type multi-crystalline silicon solar cell with an efficiency of 20.53 percent as confirmed by the National Center of Supervision and Inspection on Solar Photovoltaic Product Quality (CPVT) in Wuxi, China.
Both results established new world records for mono and multi p-type silicon solar cells (iPERC cells) with passivated rear surface and local contact, on 6″ substrates and fabricated with an industrial process.
The n-type mono-crystalline silicon solar cell with an Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) structure has achieved an efficiency of 22.9 percent on a 156×156 mm2 n-type Cz wafer as tested by Japan Electrical Safety & Environment Technology Laboratories (JET).
This is another achievement in the development of IBC solar cells, announced soon after the demonstration of a laboratory IBC solar cell with a 24.4 percent efficiency developed through Trina Solar’s collaboration with the Australian National University’s (ANU) Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems.
These results affirm these cells to be in their categories the most efficient silicon solar cells made by industrially feasible production processes on 156mm x 156mm substrates for both p-type (mono & multi) and n-type (mono) substrates.
Though these technologies are not currently in production, they will be part of the future commercialized Honey Plus and IBC products. The company aims to integrate technological developments into the PV products, which are currently commercialized or would be in the future, to further drive down the product cost, strengthen competitive advantages and provide affordable solar power to the world, stated, Pierre Verlinden, VP, chief scientist, Trina Solar.
Innovation is core to Trina’s sustainable growth and long-term success. The focus remains on developing innovative and cutting-edge solar power products and a technology to strengthen the company’s leading position as a premium PV manufacturer, he added.
Sabeena Wahid
editor@greentechlead.com