Researchers at the University of New South Wales have reported converting over 40% of the sunlight hitting a solar panel system into electricity, the highest efficiency ever recorded.
The result has been independently confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at their outdoor test facility in the United States.
“We used commercial solar cells, but in a new way, so these efficiency improvements are readily accessible to the solar industry,” said Dr Mark Keevers, manager of the project.
The breakthrough results from the use of a custom optical bandpass filter to capture sunlight normally wasted by commercial solar cells on towers and convert it to electricity at a higher efficiency than the solar cells themselves ever could.
“The new results are based on the use of focused sunlight, and are particularly relevant to photovoltaic power towers being developed in Australia,” said UNSW Scientia Professor and Director of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) Professor Martin Green.
The work was funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and supported by the Australia-US Institute for Advanced Photovoltaics (AUSIAPV).
“We hope to see this home grown innovation take the next steps from prototyping to pilot scale demonstrations. Ultimately, more efficient commercial solar plants will make renewable energy cheaper, increasing its competitiveness,” said ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht; who also stated the project further demonstrates the value of investing in Australia’s renewable energy ingenuity.
UNSW has been a leader in developing solar technology for decades. Its researchers were responsible for the first photovoltaic system to convert sunlight to electricity with over 20% efficiency in 1989.
Professor Green is referred to by some as the “father of photovoltaics”. It was way back in 1974 Professor Green launched the Solar Photovoltaics Group at the University. In recognition of his pioneering efforts, Professor Green was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2012.
Earlier this year, the professor was ranked among the top 1% most cited researchers in their subject field and year of publication between 2002 and 2012.
The 40% efficiency achievement will soon be published by the Progress in Photovoltaics journal and will also be presented at the Australian PV Institute’s Asia-Pacific Solar Research Conference, which starts today.
