Concentrated photovoltaic cells with 43.5% efficiency commercially ready

Solar Junction, a developer of high efficiency multi-junction cells for the concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) market, announced it has set a world-record for 43.5 percent efficiency on a commercial-ready production cell. This achievement was, in part, supported under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) PV Incubator Program, managed through DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The cell’s efficiency was confirmed by NREL’s Measurement and Characterization Laboratory. The 5.5 x 5.5 mm production cell tops the current record by 1.2 percent and is significantly higher than the average efficiency gain achieved by previous record holders, claims the company.

The Solar Junction cell measured a peak efficiency of 43.5 percent at greater than 400 suns and still maintained an efficiency as high as 43 percent out to 1,000 suns. Solar Junction’s cells incorporate the company’s proprietary adjustable spectrum lattice-matched A-SLAM technology, which enables the company to more optimally partition the solar spectrum for maximum efficiency and greater reliability.

Increases in CPV cell efficiencies are a key driver for improving CPV economics, with each cell efficiency gain leveraged and multiplied in value by the components that account for the remaining 80 percent of total system costs.

Visit Solar Junction at www.sj-solar.com