Panasonic Corporation announced last week it had achieved a record conversion efficiency of 24.7% with a HIT solar cell.
The company says the result is the world’s highest for any crystalline silicon-based solar cell of practical size and betters its previous record of 23.9% by a substantial margin.
Adding to the impressive result is the high efficiency was attained with a solar cell just 98 μm thick.
Several new or enhanced processes contributed to the result. Panasonic developed a new technology that enables an even higher quality amorphous silicon layer to form on the monocrystalline silicon substrate; while also reducing optical loss. Panasonic was also successful in cutting down resistive loss by improving the grid electrode.
Attaining the high efficiency with such a thin solar cell will translate to lower production costs says the company.
“Panasonic will focus on applying this newly-developed high-efficiency technology to mass production products, and will continue to develop technologies that improve efficiency, reduce costs, and save resources further,” says the company.
The Panasonic HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar panel is made up of solar cells composed of a monocrystalline silicon wafer surrounded by extremely thin amorphous silicon layers. HIT solar cells can maintain higher efficiency than a conventional crystalline silicon solar cell under extreme heat.
In other recent Panasonic news, the company announced earlier this month that it had commenced rolling out HIT solar modules from its new solar production base in Kedah, Malaysia. The new production facility will increase Panasonic’s HIT production capacity by 300 MW, boosting Panasonic’s overall module production capacity by 50% to 900 MW.
The Malaysian facility is Panasonic’s first fully-integrated solar manufacturing base; producing wafers, cells and HIT solar panels.
Panasonic says it is also stepping up efforts to provide integrated solutions combining solar panels with power conditioners, energy storage systems and other components. The company recently announced it was partnering with Power-One to develop, produce and market battery based energy storage systems.
