Markets & Policy

Trina Solar breaks multicrystalline silicon solar module efficiency record

The Chinese PV manufacturing heavyweight achieved an aperture efficiency record of 19.86%, which is up a significant 0.7% from the previous record of 19.14%, as the trend in the industry is for continuing efficiency improvements across all solar cells and modules.
By
Sam Pothecary
Another day, another efficiency record broken. This time an aperture efficiency record for multicrystalline silicon solar modules, thus it only covers a certain area of the module, but it is still moving in the right direction. Trina Solar is responsible for the broken record, with its “Honey Plus” module, which use half-cell interconnection and PERC technology during the manufacturing process.

The 19.86% aperture efficiency was set across a module area of 1.514 m2, on a module that contained 120 pieces of P-type multicrystalline silicon solar cells. The record was set at Trina’s State Key Laboratory of PV Science and Technology of China, and was verified by the Fraunhofer ISE CalLab in Germany.
Interestingly, the new efficiency broke the previous record of 19.14%, that was set back in April 2015, so it shows a dramatic improvement.
“The efficiency of PV modules is one of the key parameters to estimate the final Levelised Cost of solar Electricity,” commented Trina Solar Vice-President and chief scientist Pierre Verlinden. “This 19.86% aperture efficiency result that Trina Solar achieved demonstrates the huge potential for future multicrystalline p-type silicon research. It is also a leap forward in the trend of continuous efficiency improvements of crystalline silicon solar modules. In the innovation-driven PV industry, Trina Solar is always focused on developing leading-edge PV technologies and products that improve cell efficiency and reduce system cost.”
The current aperture efficiency world record for HIT technology modules is 23.8%, set by Panasonic back in March 2016. The monocrystalline efficiency record is currently held by SunPower, with an efficiency of 25.0%.
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Stanford advocates ending China solar tariffs – pv magazine USA
Mar 22, 2017

[…] Underlying these arguments is the report’s claim that it “busts myths”, including that China is simply improving on Western technology developments and does not innovate. To counter this, the report points to increased R&D spending in China, and Trina Solar’s recent record multicrystalline solar module. […]

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