News

21 December 2009

 

LCPV cell firm Cyrium launches first products: quantum dots yield 40% efficiency

Cyrium Technologies Inc of Ottawa, Canada, which makes multi-junction solar cells for concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems, has launched its first commercial product line: the QDEC (quantum dot enhanced cell) range for terrestrial, commercial solar applications.

Graphic: QDEC efficiency as a function of concentration at 25ºC.

Cyrium was founded in 2002 as a spin-off from National Research Council of Canada (NRC) at its Industrial Partnership facility. “Our primary objective in developing the QDEC line is to provide our clients with high-efficiency cost-effective cells with consistent reproducible performance,” says president & CEO Harry Rozakis.

Due to Cyrium’s proprietary quantum dot technology (with a triple-junction AlGaInP–Ga(In)As–Ge structure on germanium substrate), efficiency is 40% on average at a concentration of 500-1000 suns (announced in May) and a minimum of 38% on a standard 10mm x 10mm cell.

The QDEC products are hence expected to outperform all existing commercially available CPV cells on the market. “Cyrium’s product introduction sets new performance standards for solar cell suppliers to the CPV industry,” Rozakis adds. The QDEC product line should also exceed the existing performance targets of Cyrium’s clients, it is reckoned, offering further performance choices to CPV systems makers.

“Delivering sustained performance at >500-1000 concentrations with very little performance degradation at the highest illuminations is a major distinguishing feature of our QDEC products,” explains chief technical officer Simon Fafard. “ Another advantage of the QDEC line, which we designed specifically for CPV applications, is that it delivers improved performance in the case of non-uniform illumination,” he adds. “Cyrium’ s proprietary quantum dot technology enables those benefits without added thicknesses or complexities.”

In addition, Cyrium’s fabless CPV cell manufacturing model allows the flexibility to offer QDEC devices in a range of cell sizes at a competitive cost, Rozakis comments. Such high-efficiency cells with the lowest overall cost of ownership are required by CPV system makers in order to achieve the lowest levelized cost of energy. “The exceptional performance of our cells will enhance the CPV’s business case, while the technology becomes a significant factor in moving the cost of renewable solar energy toward grid parity,” he concludes.

See related item:

Cyrium claims record efficiencies for commercially manufactured multi-junction solar cells

Search: Cyrium Multi-junction solar cells AlGaInP GaInAs Germanium substrates

Visit: www.cyriumtechnologies.com