Enel, French PV institute improve heterojunction cell efficiency by 0.37%.

• The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has licensed the effectiveness of the cell, which was made with a standard M2 wafer.

Enel Green Power, the renewables device of Italian utility Enel, and also the National Solar Energy Institute (INES)-- an arm of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)-- have actually attained a performance of 25.0% for a heterojunction solar cell with an energetic surface of 213 cm2, based upon the M2 silicon wafer layout.

With this new result, the two events have actually surpassed their previous record of 24.63%, reached last February.

The results, licensed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), remain in line with the techbroadmap developed in collaboration between Enel Green Power and also CEA. In action to pv magazine's request for more information, a CEA speaker stated it is adhering to the advancement roadmap "by constantly improving the dishes that are carried out on our industrial pilot line." The spokesperson added that "the equipment used is industrial, an assurance of maturity," however did not give any additional information.

INES and Enel Green Power have claimed that they will certainly provide their advancements at the next EU PVSEC trade fair in September.

In February, Enel Green Power claimed the bifacial cell's front-side effectiveness was improved by around 0.7% by utilizing an enhanced busbar-free screen printing metallization process. The approach was based on heterojunction procedures established in between Enel as well as INES, utilizing production equipment given by Switzerland's Meyer Burger.

Enel stated the performance rise was implemented by integrating busbar-less technology-- which makes it possible for a lot more light to fall onto the cell surface-- as well as a treatment established by INES and also Enel that further improved cell passivation. "The procedure likewise calls for less silver and also is ending up being less costly," the speaker stated.

In December, the new energy innovations and nanomaterials (Liten) branch of the French Alternative Energies as well as Atomic Energy Commission stated it had actually attained 24.25% peak efficiency for a silicon heterojunction solar cell. In August, bothered Chinese supplier Hanergy established a brand-new performance record for a silicon heterojunction module at 24.85%, edging out the previous record of 24.5%, held by Kaneka. The Japanese firm still holds the record for heterojunction cell efficiency, at 26.7%, on a slightly smaller gadget.