LONGi Unveils EcoLife HBC Modules, Raising Bar for Residential Solar

• LONGi debuts EcoLife, the first mass-produced HBC module, boasting 25 % efficiency and 510 W output—engineered for Europe’s residential rooftops and 30-year durability.

MUNICH — LONGi has taken its efficiency race to a new level with the launch of EcoLife, a premium back-contact module series built on heterojunction back-contact (HBC) technology and aimed squarely at Europe’s fast-growing rooftop market.

Revealed on 7 May at Intersolar Europe, EcoLife is the first commercially available photovoltaic module to marry heterojunction cells with full back-contact architecture. The result is headline-grabbing numbers: cell conversion efficiency of 27.3 percent and module efficiency up to 25 percent. The debut model, a 54-cell bifacial panel, pushes out as much as 510 W and delivers a power density of 250 W per square metre—about 40 W more than mainstream rivals.

EcoLife is more than an engineering exercise; it is also LONGi’s new consumer-facing brand. By separating its residential offering, the Chinese manufacturer wants to tighten feedback loops with homeowners and installers and respond faster to local design preferences, CEO Dennis She said at the launch. Sleeker frames, all-black options and low-light optimisation cater to Europe’s patchwork of rooflines and shading challenges.

The core performance gain comes from the HBC platform. Heterojunction layers passivate both sides of the ultra-thin TaiRay wafer while back-contact wiring removes front-side metal and the recombination losses that come with it. That clean surface, LONGi claims, allows the open-circuit voltage to break the 750 mV threshold and keeps the temperature coefficient at –0.24 %/°C. Under summer heat, the company says, EcoLife will hold on to more generation than TOPCon-based peers.

Durability figures match the raw output. First-year degradation is capped at 1 percent, followed by 0.35 percent annually across a 30-year dual warranty on power and materials. The panel is certified to withstand 6,000 Pa snow loads—roughly four metres of drift—and wind forces equivalent to a Category 15 hurricane. An “anti-shading” layout spreads current more evenly, cutting hotspot temperatures by 28 percent and trimming fire risk.

Two versions will ship across Europe in August. The LR7-54HJBB sports an all-black aesthetic for design-sensitive homes, while the LR7-54HJD features a translucent backsheet for maximum bifacial gain. Both promise the same rated efficiency and safety credentials.

With EcoLife, LONGi is betting that residential buyers will pay a premium for bleeding-edge performance wrapped in roof-friendly styling—an equation Germany’s subsidy-fed homeowners, at least, may find hard to ignore.