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PV concentrator module attains efficiency of 36.7 percent

PV concentrator module attains efficiency of 36.7 percent

Technology News |
By eeNews Europe



Fraunhofer ISE has developed concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) technology using Fresnel lenses to bundle sunlight and focus it onto miniature, highly efficient solar cells.

FLATCON module technology originates from Fraunhofer ISE and the organization’s new CPV module technology helped to achieve the record breaking performance.  The high module efficiency was measured under Concentrator Standard Testing Conditions, or CSTC, and claims to mark the best value ever achieved for a photovoltaic module.

Decisive in the achievement was Soitec’s new four-junction solar cell based on the wafer bonding technology and developed in cooperation with Fraunhofer ISE. The four-junction solar cell is being implemented into the Institute’s FLATCON module concept. The module aperture area, defined as the surface area of the module exposed to light, is 832 cm². The sunlight is concentrated by a factor of 230 suns onto fifty-two 7 mm² miniature solar cells with the help of fifty-two 16 cm² Fresnel lenses.

“This success shows that the high efficiencies of Soitec’s novel four-junction solar cells can be transferred to the module level,” explained Dr. Andreas Bett, who has led the CPV research at Fraunhofer ISE over many years. For his efforts Bett has received many awards, among them the German Environmental Award 2012, together with Hansjörg Lerchenmüller of Soitec Solar.

A few months ago Fraunhofer ISE together with Soitec, the French research center CEA-Leti, and the Helmholtz Center in Berlin announced a new solar cell world record of 44.7% under concentrated light. This record cell consisted of four sub-cells made up of the compound semiconductors GaInP, GaAs, GaInAs and InP respectively. In comparison to standard silicon solar cells, the manufacture of four-junction solar cells is more expensive so that up to now their terrestrial applications have been exclusively in concentrator systems.

Concentrator photovoltaic systems (CPV) are installed in sun-rich regions, where these systems produce solar electricity for less than eight eurocents per kilowatt-hour.

Key to this technology is the solar cell efficiency and the concentrating optic. In the record module, the four-junction solar cell was combined with Fresnel lenses, which were manufactured by the industry partner ORAFOL Fresnel Optics based on a new design developed at Fraunhofer ISE. The successful transfer of this high module efficiency to commercially manufactured modules is expected within one to two years.

Related articles and links:

www.ise.fraunhofer.de


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