The world's first perovskite tandem module was born, with an efficiency of more than 26%
Recently, there has been a small upsurge in the field of photovoltaic perovskites.
On November 30, GCL Optoelectronics, a perovskite company, announced that its perovskite tandem module efficiency reached 26.17% on the basis of an area of 279mm ×370mm. The company calls it the world's first true perovskite tandem module.
GCL Optoelectronics said that it will strive to break through the efficiency of 26% in the area of 1mx2m, and commercialize it accordingly.
Compared with the current mainstream crystalline silicon cell modules, the world's highest efficiency record certified by a third-party authority so far is the N-type TOPCon large-area photovoltaic module created by JinkoSolar (688223.SH) earlier this month, with a maximum conversion efficiency of 24.76%.
On November 23, GCL Optoelectronics just announced that it had broken the world record, and its 1mx2m perovskite single-junction module had a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 18.04%, which was authoritatively certified by the Chinese Institute of Metrology and issued an official test report.
GCL Optoelectronics said that this achievement marks its successful crossing of the 18% conversion efficiency threshold, and the next step will be to devote itself to the research and development of a new generation of perovskite tandem modules.
Another perovskite company, Jidian Sonic, also announced on November 27 that its 1.2mx0.6m commercial-sized perovskite module has a full-area efficiency of 18.2%, corresponding to a maximum power of 131.07 watts, and an aperture (AP) area efficiency of 19.55% after testing by TÜV SÜD.
Jidian Solar said that both the full-area efficiency and the pore area efficiency are the highest industry records for the efficiency of commercial-sized perovskite modules.
The full area is the total area of the cell as measured by the frontal projection or reflection, and the aperture area is the area that contains only all the necessary components of the solar cell.
Jidian Solar said that the efficiency of commercial perovskite modules exceeded 18%, which is of special significance to the perovskite industry, which means that the commercialization of perovskite modules is one step closer. According to estimates, due to the low temperature coefficient of perovskite modules and the strong power generation capacity of weak light, if the efficiency reaches 18%, its actual power generation can already be comparable to that of traditional crystalline silicon modules.
In addition to breakthroughs in conversion efficiency, perovskites, as a new generation of solar cell materials and technologies, also continue to attract more capital to enter the market.
As the world's largest display panel company, BOE (000725.SZ) recently launched a perovskite photovoltaic project. At the beginning of November, BYD (002594.SZ) also said in the research activities that it would actively deploy perovskite cell technology. Subsequently, Huasheng New Energy also said at the time of the C round of financing that it would invest in the research and development of cutting-edge technologies such as heterojunction-perovskite tandem cells.
Although perovskite technology is still a long time away from large-scale commercial use, it is difficult to subvert the huge crystalline silicon system in a short period of time, but in the past two years, this emerging technology has earned enough capital attention. Sequoia, Hillhouse, IDG and other capital parties have placed bets, and cross-border enterprises such as Tencent and CATL (300750.SZ) have entered the game one after another.
Before the interface newsPerovskite topic discussionYu Zhenrui, co-founder and president of Jidian Solar, once told reporters that the first major advantage of perovskite cells and modules is higher efficiency, which is likely to surpass crystalline silicon, the second is the cost advantage, and the third is better low-light performance and lower temperature coefficient, and in the same application scenario, perovskite unit power generation is higher than that of crystalline silicon. These three factors will ultimately drive a significant reduction in the cost of electricity (LCOE) of PV.
In addition, as a thin-film product, perovskite cells have a lot of room for adjustment in appearance, and their application scenarios are more diverse. The perovskite industry chain is also shorter, with a smaller carbon footprint in production.
However, there are also views in the industry that perovskite cells have defects such as poor stability, and most companies are currently in the laboratory or pilot line stage, and the industrialization process is still relatively early.
Long Wei, director of advanced technology of Tongwei (600438.SH) Photovoltaic Technology Center, told Jiemian News that the efficiency of perovskite single junction is almost the same as that of crystalline silicon, and more importantly, it can form tandem cells with other materials, which is expected to become the only tandem cell route with an efficiency of more than 30% and low-cost large-scale applications.
At present, crystalline silicon companies mostly focus on perovskite tandem cells, and perovskite start-ups have technical advantages in single junctions, but these companies also have the possibility of tandem industrialization.
In early November, LONGi Green Energy (601012.SH) announced that its self-developed crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem cell efficiency has reached 33.9% certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), surpassing the Shookley-Queiser (S-Q) theoretical efficiency limit of crystalline silicon single-junction cells for the first time, and becoming the highest efficiency record for crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem cells in the world.
Li Xiande, chairman of JinkoSolar, said at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Shanghai Summit a few days ago that the industry unanimously believes that after crystalline silicon reaches its limit, perovskite is a trend in the future, but perovskite does still have problems such as attenuation, which need to be solved by scientists, and there are still various uncertainties in its actual production.
According to the forecast of the China Photovoltaic Association, the new perovskite production capacity in China will be 0.5 GW in 2023 and reach 161 GW in 2030, and the perovskite penetration rate is expected to be 0.2% in 2023 and 30% in 2030.
