Chinese Company Touts ‘New Record’ TOPCon Efficiency

• DAH Solar has announced achieving 26.5% average mass production efficiency for TOPCon cell 
• It used LECO technology to separate the key steps of metal erosion and contact formation 
• This follows 26.05% average mass production efficiency the company reported for TOPCon cells in September 2023 

Chinese solar PV manufacturer DAH Solar says it has exceeded 26.5% average mass production efficiency for its TOPCon solar cell, calling it a new record. 

Considering the theoretical limit of 28.7% efficiency, DAH says breaking through 26% means a lot. Nonetheless, the official statement from the company does not mention any 3rd party validation. 

DAH used laser-enhanced contact optimization (LECO) technology to separate the 2 key steps of metal erosion and contact formation. It explained that this was deployed considering its high concentration of energy and controllability during the high-temperature sintering process. The LECO process also helps effectively reduce the difficulty of poly back, it added. 

In September 2023, the Chinese manufacturer announced achieving 26.05% average mass production efficiency for its TOPCon cells (see China Solar PV News Snippets). 

DAH Solar did not mention in its press release any details on manufacturing status or plans of this record product. The highest efficiency for its commercial module products published on their website is 22.5%. Nonetheless, according to the TaiyangNews Top Solar Modules Listing the highest commercial solar module efficiency currently stands at 24% achieved by Aiko Solar (see Top Solar Modules Listing—December 2023).     

DAH operates 4 factories with an annual production capacity of 2 GW solar cells, 5 GW PV modules including 2.5 GW TOPCon modules, and 3.5 GW TOPCon solar cells. 

In December 2023, the TaiyangNews flagship annual event High Efficiency Solar Technologies Conference delved deep into TOPCon technology's current and future prospects. The conference summary for the 4 days and all presentations can be accessed on our website here. 

Addendum: While in the first version of this article, we published DAH's claim about a mass manufacturing TOPCon module efficiency record of 26.5%. We reached out to the company to confirm this claim. DAH Solar has now confirmed that the efficiency is for TOPCon cell and not module as it announced earlier. Accordingly, the article has been updated.