SPIC SOLAR, a fairly early adopter of back-contact cell technology, recently transitioned to back-contact cell technology over a TOPCon cell structure, or TBC, from interdigitated back-contact (IBC) technology. The company displayed its latest TBC cell-based ANDROMEDA 3.0 series module additions at the recently concluded SNEC 2024 event in Shanghai, China. The single-glass full-black TBC and bifacial double-glass TBC modules were the highlights of the company at the event.
Full-black TBC solution
The TBC 120 half-cell single-glass black backsheet based module boasts a power range of 385 W to 490 W and an efficiency of up to 23.2%. Its high efficiency can be attributed to the back-contact cell design based on a high-quality TOPCon cell structure, low-temperature coefficient, and enhanced low-light response. SPIC says that its front glass with anti-glare properties makes the module suitable for low light pollution applications like airports. The new model, with full-black aesthetics and a compact size of 1,698 × 1,039 × 30 mm, is suitable for rooftop and building wall applications. Its immunity against potential hotspot risk due to localized shading over the module is aided by its half-cell configuration. SPIC confirmed its new model will be commercially available at the end of the year and is primarily promoted for the European market.
Back-contact and bifacial
The company also highlighted its successful technological progress in making back-contact cell-based bifacial module—ANDROMEDA 3.0 series. This latest TBC 144 half-cell-based double-glass module offers a power output of up to 490 W and 24.2% efficiency, said the company. The module’s larger size of 2,080 × 1,034 × 30 mm makes it suitable for utility-scale applications. Its high efficiency of more than 24% can be attributed to its TBC cell characteristics, half-cell configuration, and 70% (±5%) bifaciality. The half-cell configuration and single-side stringing process minimizes the potential risk of hot-spot and micro-crack generation, enhancing the module’s long-term reliability. The company claimed the model is commercially available, but there is no technical datasheet uploaded to SPIC Solar's website.
Though both the single-glass full-black and bifacial TBC modules offer a 15-year product warranty, the linear performance warranty for the bifacial model is 30 years compared to the full-black model’s 25 years.
In the monthly published “TaiyangNews TOP SOLAR MODULES Listing June 2024” report, SPIC Solar stood 6th with its 22.8% efficient ANDROMEDA 3.0 TBC module. (see TOP SOLAR MODULES Listing – June 2024 here).