Top Efficiency Of Each Cell Technology

It is evident that module efficiency is mainly driven by cell technology, and companies often rely on advanced cell architectures such as IBC, TOPCon, and HJT. The graph summarizes the top efficiency product in all commercial cell structures. Historically, IBC has always been considered the efficiency leader among the commercially offered modules; which is also reflected in our list from the beginning. Thus, the explanation of top efficiency progress in our previous article Top 3 Solar Module Efficiencies In 2023/2024 is also applicable to IBC efficiency progress. At the beginning of 2024, AIKO represented the highest efficiency of 24%, which it retained until it broke its own record in the month of May. Its Comet series product features an efficiency of 24.2%, putting it directly at the top. As for 2023, the top IBC efficiency position was held by both LONGi and Maxeon with both their modules featuring 22.8% efficiency. In March, AIKO’s module took the lead with 23.6% efficiency, and further strengthened its position with a 24% product in June 2023, staying on top through December 2023.

The top commercial module efficiency among TOPCon products increased by only 0.35% absolute over the scope of this report’s timeline. However, the entire progress essentially took place in 2024. The top efficiency rose from 22.65% to 22.8% in February and further to 23% in November. At the beginning of the year, JinkoSolar led with a 22.65% efficiency product. In February, Tongwei surpassed this with a module achieving 22.8% efficiency. The very next month, in March, Astronergy also commercialized a product with the same efficiency, matching Tongwei’s product. In July 2024, JA Solar and DMEGC joined the race, achieving 22.8% efficiency as well. This created a 4-way tie for the highest efficiency in the TOPCon category, with Tongwei, Astronergy, JA Solar, and DMEGC all at the top. The major breakthrough came in November when JA Solar raised the bar further by launching a commercial TOPCon module with an efficiency of 23%. This marked the first time a listed TOPCon product reached the 23% benchmark, setting a new record for the technology. This milestone also the last of TOPCon efficiency advancements for calendar year 2024. During 2023, JinkoSolar was the TOPCon efficiency leader for the entire year with a 22.65% efficiency product, a place it claimed from Jolywood in September 2022 (see Efficiency Trends And Technology Shifts In TOP SOLAR MODULES).

In the case of HJT, the top efficiency has been represented by the HJT technology pioneer Huasun. The top HJT efficiency improved by 0.65 percentage points over the 2-year period. At the beginning of 2024, the top efficiency was 23.02%, which was also among the top 3. However, it missed the spot in April 2024. This best efficiency for HJT improved only once, in August, when Huasun again improved its HJT module efficiency from the 23.02% level at the beginning of the year to 23.18%. Huasun was also the HJT segment leader in 2023. It improved the top efficiency of this segment from 22.53% at the beginning of the year to 23.02% in September 2023, which earned it a place in the top 3 (see Tracking Efficiency Improvements In Solar Modules).

For PERC, the top efficiency was a constant 21.7% throughout 2023 and 2024. However, the companies representing this efficiency level changed from time to time. At the beginning of the year, it was represented by 6 companies – Canadian Solar, LONGi, Risen, DAS Solar, Suntech, and Tongwei Solar. The only change for the year 2024 was that Tongwei Solar was delisted in September after the company stopped offering its PERC module. This reduced the number of companies providing top PERC efficiency to 5, but the top efficiency level of 21.7% remained unchanged until December 2024. In 2023, while PERC’s top efficiency was the same at 21.7%, it was only represented by 3 companies – Canadian Solar, LONGi, and Risen. The first change took place in March 2023 with Tongwei Solar joining the list, increasing the number of companies at this level to 4. Then again in April, DAS Solar joined the pack, pushing it up to 5. After 2 months, in July, Suntech also joined the top PERC efficiency group to take the number up to 6.

The TaiyangNews TOP SOLAR MODULES 2024 Report summarizes the key findings from over 24 editions published during 2023 and 2024. Download the free report here.