LONGi Green Energy Technology (LONGi), a Chinese photovoltaics company, has set a new world record of 33.9% for the efficiency of crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells.
The company said the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has confirmed this achievement, which surpasses the previous world record of 33.7% efficiency for a device with the same configuration set by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in May this year.
As the world strives to achieve “carbon neutrality,” renewable photovoltaics (PVs) that produce clean energy without emitting greenhouse gases are gaining momentum. The potential of photovoltaic technologies depends largely on the efficiency of solar cells, which measures how well they convert light into electricity.
With a global market share of about 90%, crystalline silicon single-junction cells are the mainstream solar cell technology whose efficiency continues to improve, getting closer and closer to its theoretical efficiency limit of 29.4%.
One of the most promising alternatives in this field is crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells, with a theoretical efficiency of 43%. This technology combines two different types of solar cells to achieve higher efficiency and stability.
Crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells represent a new direction for the advancement of next-generation high-efficiency solar cell technology.
LONGi has demonstrated its continuous innovation and improvement in the field of crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells, which have the potential to achieve higher efficiency and lower cost than conventional solar cells.
The Chinese solar giant announced an efficiency of 31.8% during the SNEC conference in late May in Shanghai, China, and an efficiency of 33.5% at the InterSolar Europe 2023 in June before breaking the world record again with 33.9%.
“LONGi’s new world record of 33.9% efficiency means that the enterprise’s research and development in crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells technology is at a global leading level,” said Hua Jiang, Deputy Secretary-General of China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA).
Hua pointed out that the photovoltaic industry is a cost-oriented industry and is primarily focused on cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Enhancing the conversion efficiency of solar cells is an effective way to reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), which is crucial for the industry’s development.
“Once this high-efficiency solar cell technology truly achieves mass production, it will promote a significant decrease in the cost of photovoltaic power generation compared to before, which is absolutely beneficial for promoting the growth of China and even the global photovoltaic market. The growth of the photovoltaic market will also drive the entire global energy transition,” Hua Jiang further said in a statement.
