TÜV-SUD, the global testing, certification, inspection and training provider, confirmed the passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) efficiency record, which comes just weeks after group unit, Longi Solar claimed an 82.15% record bifaciality for the bifacial version of its PERC solar cells, and follows a record 22.71% conversion efficiency on a PERC cell.
The Chinese solar manufacturer said it utilized the latest PERC technology in its manufacturing processes for both solar cells and modules.
This year, Longi’s conversion rate target for PERC cells in mass production is between 21.5% and 22%. This would surpass the requirements under China’s Top Runner Program, which requires a conversion rate of 18.9%.
Last October, the manufacturer said its PERC-mono cell had reached conversion rate of 22.71%, based on mass production technology. Several days later, this went even higher, to 23.26%. Both figures were new records at the time, and were certified by Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE CalLab.
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Longi is one of the leading manufacturers of monocrystalline silicon wafers, cells and modules, with Bloomberg naming it a Tier 1 supplier in 2016. It has a current mono wafer capacity of 15 GW, and plans to expand by another 10 GW in 2018.
At the start of January, meanwhile, it revealed plans to invest CNY 1.95 billion ($299.5 million) in the construction of a 5 GW solar module assembly plant in eastern China.
Author: Vincent Shaw
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This report is useless without context. There are so many distinctions that “records” are easy to come by.