Demand is still up and crystalline silicon PV continues to dominate the global solar market. Thin-film’s headlines might attract more attention, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot going on behind the scenes in the c-Si arena. Everyone is still fighting for that extra watt, and there are some ingenious avenues being taken.
During Intersolar North America’s conference session “Crystalline Silicon PV: Addressing the Future,” Dr. Dye-Zone A. Chen, vice president of sales for the Americas at REC Group U.S., said there are two areas that need to be addressed in order to increase the power output of a c-Si solar panel: Either you reduce reflection or you decrease electrical losses. Chen specifically focused on a few ways to solve both issues, including half-cut cell design, reflective ribbons and increased white space between cells.
REC has found the most success with half-cut cells, most notably with its TwinPeak Series of modules that consist of 120 half-cut (60 full-sized) cells. Chen said the half-cut design reduces electrical loss by as much as 25%. Using reflective materials–like ribbons, tape or backsheets–helps with increasing panel power, but not on the same scale as the optimized half-cut cell design.
Another area of interest for REC is increasing the cell-to-cell spacing on a panel. More white space equals more ways to reflect and absorb light. For best results, Chen said an average module would have to increase just 4 in. longer and 1 cm wider to accommodate more white space between cells.
Overall, there is not an easy answer as to how to obtain more power, but Chen said the hard work involved with new module design can bring strong gains.
In the same conference session, more popular advances were discussed. Dr. Jutta Trube, managing director of PV equipment at German Engineering Federation, said everyone’s favorite buzzword “PERC” is here to stay, as her research expects the newer technology will make up 45% of solar cell types by 2025. PERC solar cells only make up about 15% now. What seemed like a possible passing trend just two years ago has asserted its dominance in c-Si technology. Maybe half-cut solar cells will have the same surprising upswing.
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