16 February 2011

Solar Junction’s commercial-ready CPV cell hits 41.4% efficiency

Just one month after achieving 40.9% efficiency, Solar Junction of San Jose, CA, USA, a developer and manufacturer of III-V multi-junction solar cells for the concentrated photovoltaics (CPV), has reached 41.4% on a standard commercial-ready production cell (rather than a ‘champion’ cell). Both milestones have been validated by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

“As the debate over PV versus CPV continues, we contend that, with double the efficiency of traditional photovoltaics, the CPV sector is entering a high-growth period,” says CEO Jim Weldon. “These recent NREL results reflect our continued commitment to efficiency gains and validate the advantages of our A-SLAM technology for the CPV sector.”

Founded in 2007, Solar Junction says that its cell, which incorporates proprietary adjustable spectrum lattice-matched A-SLAM technology, is accelerating the rise in multi-junction cell efficiencies in a customer-integrable and commercial form factor: in both a 5.5mm x 5.5mm aperture area form factor (the dominant cell for CPV module makers) as well as in a variety of other larger and smaller sizes.

The firm says that it is also the only CPV cell supplier to advance to a short list of finalists chosen for post-selection due diligence within the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program (LGP). The grant would support the commissioning of Solar Junction’s high-volume, 250MW-capacity manufacturing facility, co-located with its headquarters in San Jose. Solar Junction expects to begin shipping commercial cells this year.

LGP post-selection due diligence comes just over a year after Solar Junction announced receipt of a $3m contract from NREL as part of the US Department of Energy’s Photovoltaic (PV) Incubator Program. The efficiency gains of the firm’s solar cells relate to the work as part of the Incubator subcontract with NREL. Once the LGP post-selection due diligence process is complete, Solar Junction will ramp its in-house manufacturing capacity to meet the needs of CPV module makers.

The PV Incubator contract was followed last March by a $13.3m Series C round of funding from prior investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Advanced Technology Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.

Tags: Solar Junction Multi-junction cell CPV

Visit: www.sj-solar.com

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