Chinese integrated solar PV manufacturer Trina Solar says its self-developed 210 mm x 210 mm PERC solar cell has reached the highest cell efficiency of 24.5% claiming it to be a new world record for industrialized p-type monocrystalline silicon PERC cell with this area.
The cell efficiency has been announced by the company's State Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic Science and Technology, and certified in a 3rd party testing by the Chinese Academy of Metrology.
Trina Solar says its researchers stationed at Suqian 210 cell manufacturing base developed multi-layer anti-reflection films, fine metallization and super multi-busbar technology for its 210mm mass production lines, all of which helped reach 24.5% highest efficiency for large area 210 cells.
"PERC technology is a very successful low-cost industry. This achievement represents that Trina Solar's technical team still maintains innovation and vitality in mass production mature technologies, and we are committed to continuous R&D investment in mass production technologies to create value for customers," said Trina Solar's Head of Technology Engineering Center Dr Yifeng Chen.
With this 24.5%, Trina Solar supersedes the previous record of 24.06% set by LONGi in Jan 2019. While impressive, it is difficult to assess from the outside if the achieved efficiency level is just based on what's perceived as classic PERC. Many industry experts believe that 24% cell efficiency levels with PERC can only be attained when combined with exotic structures, for example passivated contacts. In fact, JinkoSolar's 23.95% efficiency announced in May 2018 was also characterized as PERC, but the company did acknowledge that the attained high efficiency was the result of an advanced passivation structure.
However, during the TaiyangNews Bifacial & Solar Tracker Conference 2022, JinkoSolar's Song Li in his presentation on TOPCon modules said that p-type PERC has reached the efficiency limit of 24.5% (see Bifacial & Solar Trackers Conference Day 2).
The best commercial module efficiencies for products using PERC cell technology are reaching 21.6 %to 21.7% today. Trina's 210 mm based 670 W module comes with 21.6% module efficiency, according to our monthly TaiyangNews commercial module efficiency ranking (see Top Solar Modules Listing – May 2022).
Earlier in June 2022, Trina Solar secured a life cycle assessment (LCA) certificate for its Vertex solar modules from TUV Rheinland (see '1st' LCA Certificate For 210mm Solar Modules).
Hitherto present in the solar value chain from cell and module production to trackers, Trina Solar, today one of the two world's largest module makers, is adding more to its up- and downstream manufacturing portfolio with wafer, industrial silicon and BOM production (see Trina Announces Massive Solar PV Production Plans).
Participating in TaiyangNews Bifacial & Solar Trackers Conference on July 5, 2022, Trina Solar's Product Manager Rocky Li batted for dual-glass as the choice for the manufacturer's 210 Vertex 670W+ bifacial module (see Bifacial & Solar Trackers Conference Day 1).