Trina Solar breaks world record in solar technology
Trina Solar, a Chinese company, announced in a Monday statement that it had set a world record for the efficiency of conversion of a particular type of solar panel.
According to Fraunhofer's CalLab, Germany, the solar research institute, Trina’s large-surface area n type fully passivated heterojunction modules (HJTs) demonstrated an efficiency rate of 25.4% in laboratory tests.
Cell efficiency is the percentage of solar power that is converted to usable electricity. Passivation covers the defects on the solar cell surface. Cell efficiency can reduce the size of solar installations and cut costs.
Professor Martin Green, at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, who's lab had held the record for solar cell efficiency for decades, said that the result showed the potential of HJT technology, which is one of many competing technologies to become the dominant next-generation technology in the sector.
Green said that the cost of a sequence can be higher at first, but as the industry adopts new technologies, the price will drop.
Gao Jifan, Trina's Chairman and CEO, said that the company would continue to research and develop passivated solar technologies to maintain its technological leadership.
HJT is still a small part of the market. According to solar consultancy InfoLink, HJT will make up only 7% of capacity for high-efficiency solar cells in 2024. This figure will rise to 8% by 2025, and then 9% by 2026. Over the next five-year period, TopCON or tunnel activated, passive contact cells will dominate the market.
Trina stated that the results represent a record in HJT technology and a milestone for photoelectric conversion efficiency for single-crystalline silicon modules. (Reporting and editing by Colleen Jackson and Lewis Jackson.
(source: Reuters)
