Meyer Burger, Swiss manufacturer of heterojunction solar modules, has established a new partnership with a consortium of high-level research institutions with the objective to produce solar cells in the future with yields greater than 30%.
The company is working on the industrialization of perovskite tandem technology. In order to realize the very high-yield technology for series production, the Swiss manufacturer has signed corresponding multi-year cooperation agreements with the CSEM of Switzerland, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), the Fraunhofer Institute for solar energy ISE Freiburg and the Photovoltaic Institute of the University of Stuttgart. The aim is to achieve a further significant increase in the energy performance of commercial solar modules.
Thanks to a long tradition of in-house development, Meyer Burger has a comprehensive portfolio of processes, technologies and production techniques for the possible mass production of tandem solar cells and modules. This includes essential manufacturing processes and machinery for silicon-based perovskite tandem solar cells, as well as corresponding solar modules with Meyer Burger’s proprietary SmartWire connection technology. Coupled with the capabilities of our academic partners, this is a unique recipe for success.
Marcel König, director of research and development at Meyer Burger.
Meyer Burger has already collaborated on perovskite technology research in the past, among others with Oxford PV, and has therefore already developed its own proprietary technology solutions. The company has already achieved a record efficiency of 29.6% for a 25 cm2 perovskite tandem solar cell. To achieve this, the Swiss researchers combined heterojunction silicon cells with perovskite structures.
This extraordinary result demonstrates the potential of silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells to achieve high efficiencies. Although we still have a lot of work ahead of us, the industrialization of solar cells with an efficiency greater than 30% is on the right track.
Christophe Ballif, director of sustainable energy at CSEM.
HZB has also been studying perovskite technology for a long time and has already achieved world record efficiencies of over 31% for laboratory tandem solar cells in combination with heterojunction and perovskite. Now, with Meyer Burger and other partners, he intends to apply the results to the manufacture of commercial products in industry.
By manufacturing in Europe, Meyer Burger creates high quality jobs while using technologies developed in Europe.
Rutger Schlatmann, director of the photovoltaic competence center PVcomB Berlin at HZB.
Via www.meyerburger.com
