heterojunction

Swiss equipment supplier Meyer Burger has received a CHF 74 million (US$74.4 million) order for a 600 MW production line combining heterojunction and smart wire technologies. The order was placed by an unnamed manufacturer, with the line expected to begin cell and module production in the second half of 2019.

Meyer Burger’s largest single shareholder has requested the company change strategy. Sentis Capital has urged the Swiss technology company’s board to raise sufficient capital for it to set up its own GW-sized production facility for its heterojunction and tandem cell PV technology. Meyer Burger has responded that it is view of only one shareholder.

Researchers from Berlin’s Helmholtz Zentrum Research Institute have developed a silicon heterojunction cell, with an additional crystalline layer that utilizes an effect known as singlet fission to boost efficiency. The team has created a device demonstrating that the principle works, and says that with further experimentation, the concept could achieve cell efficiencies as high as 40%.

For the production of its heterojunction modules, the Russian manufacturer will cooperate with the German PV engineering provider for the supply of stringers and adhesive technology. To this end, Hevel has ordered new stringer systems and layup from Teamtechnik.

For solar to survive in a world without feed-in tariffs, further innovation focused on cost reduction is necessary. In this white paper, scientists from Swiss equipment supplier Meyer Burger argue that high efficiency cell concepts, and in particular heterojunction, will be among the best technologies solar can bet on to achieve this.

The Switzerland-headquartered company has secured a contract for the delivery of its SmartWire solar module production line to an undisclosed customer in Southeast Asia.

Researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Oxford PV have presented a new record perovskite tandem solar cell, with a 25.2% conversion efficiency, independently verified by Fraunhofer ISE. Bernd Stannowski, from HZB presented the results this week at the World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-7) in Hawaii.

Crystalline silicon tandem cell structures show great promise in delivering efficiencies beyond the limits of conventional c-Si. Swiss researchers claim to have gone beyond 25% with a c-Si-perovskite tandem cell structure, using what they claim is a competitive production process.

Panasonic has been improving the cost and durability of heterojunction cells for years. Meyer Burger’s smartwire connections could replace three-busbar technology and drive further advances

By proving inductively coupled plasma can be used for HJT-cell production, the research institute and corporate partner will now work on ways to find cost-effective production methods with the aim of making a GW scale roll out of HJT cells viable