CEA-INES researchers and Enel have developed a new solar cell with an active surface area of 9 cm² and an open circuit voltage of over 1,880 mV. Their results improved the 25.8 percent efficiency they achieved for the same type of cells in December 2022.
“A device with an active area of 9 cm² has an open-circuit voltage of more than 1,880 mV,” CEA-INES said, noting that the device improvement based on the pin configuration was also due to “shading correction.” It did not disclose other technical details.
Enel Green Power is betting on an n-type heterojunction cell (HJT) with an efficiency of 25.5% for its new 3 GW solar module factory now under construction in Catania, southern Italy. It recently said that this could lead to module efficiencies of over 24%. From 2026, Enel Green Power plans to offer even more efficient solar modules based on tandem silicon-perovskite cells. The end products are said to reach an efficiency of about 30 percent.
CEA-INES and Enel Green Power have jointly developed DC/DC maximum power point tracking devices (MPPT). They said they are now also working on highly efficient bifacial PV panels. Additionally, they claim to have achieved 24.47% power conversion efficiency for a gallium-doped p-type heterojunction silicon solar cell in March 2022.
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The current number pv magazine focuses on solar manufacturing technology that enables market expansion and a new era of high-efficiency modules, including interdigitated back contact (IBC) and perovskite tandem solar cells. The magazine maps the latest technical and investment decisions in the high-efficiency solar manufacturing segment, as well as the materials and product development that support them. Reports come from France, Japan, India, Indonesia, Israel, England, the United States and China, and we also explore the problems of solar car pioneers.
In August 2020, they achieved 25.0% efficiency for a heterolithium solar cell with an active surface area of 213 cm2 based on an M2 wafer shape. With this result, both parties had improved from their previous record by 24.63%. The method was based on the heterojunction processes developed between Enel and INES using manufacturing equipment supplied by the Swiss company Meyer Burger.
