The TaiyangNews Top Solar Modules Report 2022/2023 analysis showed that PERC module efficiency has increased over the past 2 years. In January, PERC's efficiency range was 21.5% to 21.6%, which quickly increased to 21.7% the following month and remained so from then on. While a few companies did announce PERC modules above 21.7%, we did not find proof for commercialization, so we haven't included them in our TOP MODULES list.
Initially, there were 12 products listed in the PERC category in January 2022: 5 modules from Risen, CSI, Suntech, Talesun and Trina Solar were listed at 21.6%, while only 1 module from EGing PV was reaching 21.57%. In addition, 6 modules from LONGi Solar, JA Solar, Jinergy, Astronergy, Qcells, and Tongwei were at the lowest threshold of 21.5% (see Share Of Cell Technologies).
In February 2022, LONGi increased the efficiency of its PERC module to 21.7%, JA Solar's product improved to 21.6%, and Yingli entered the list with a 21.57% efficiency module. The only change in March was Seraphim entering the list with a 21.5% module. The next change took place only in July 2022, when Risen commercialized an improved product with an efficiency of 21.7%, making it the second product to hit the highest point for PERC in the listing, after LONGi. In August, Jinergy's product was listed with an improved efficiency of 21.52%, but the product spec was inaccessible for the next 2 months. In September, DAS Solar entered the list with a 21.5% PERC module. In October, JinkoSolar, with no representation in the segment until then (i.e., the company's commercially available PERC products didn't clear the 21.5% criterion), entered the list with a 21.68% product. Jinergy re-entered our radar with a product featuring improved efficiency of 21.57% in November.
Majority of the companies featured under PERC technology in 2022 ascended to higher efficiency tiers in 2023 and the landscape also evolved in 2023 with newcomers joining the lower ranks. (Source: TaiyangNews 2024)
The last 2 changes of the year 2022 in the PERC category were Canadian Solar's new 21.7% efficiency module and Akcome's PERC module entering the list for the first time with an efficiency of 21.68%. While there was no change in the first 2 months of 2023, Tongwei improved the efficiency of its PERC modules in March to 21.7% and Astronergy to 21.6%. Then in April 2023, DAS Solar increased its product efficiency to 21.7%, while there were no further changes to the PERC listing till the end of H1-2023 (see A Down Trend In PERC).
From July, Suntech joined the list with an efficiency of 21.7%, an improvement from its previous 21.6%. In the same month, 6 companies – Qn-SOLAR, SolarSpace, and URECO joined the 21.57% efficiency point, while CECEP, GCL-Si, and Runergy entered with 21.5% efficiency. In August, GCL-Si improved the top efficiency of its PERC product to 21.6%. The only change to take place in September was Astronergy reducing the best efficiency of its PERC offerings to 21.5%, back to the February level. In October, ZNSHINE joined in with an efficiency of 21.5%, and these products maintained their efficiency levels until the end of December 2023.
The text is an excerpt from the TaiyangNews TOP MODULES Analysis 2022 / 2023 Report, which can be downloaded for free here.