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News

6 August 2007

 

Emcore claims record efficiency for volume-production, multi-junction solar cell aimed at terrestrial applications

Emcore Corporation of Albuquerque, NM, USA says that its high volume production, multi-junction solar cell products for terrestrial Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) applications have achieved a record 39% conversion efficiency under 1000x concentrated illumination.

Based on compound semiconductor materials, the Concentrator Triple-Junction (CTJ) solar cells are designed for operating conditions between 500-1000x concentration, and are available in a variety of form factors.

Moving forward, Emcore says that the next step in its high-volume product roadmap is the introduction of concentrator solar cell products with conversion efficiencies exceeding 40% under the high illumination operating conditions required for next generation CPV systems.

David Danzilio, vice president and general manager of Emcore’s Photovoltaics division, said: “Solar cells with 1000x conversion efficiency of 39% will enable CPV system developers to deploy competitive solar power installations with the lowest cost per kw-hr. We are committed to continuing our investment in CPV solar cell technology and production capacity to support our customers ever increasing requirements for performance, cost, and capacity.”

In December last year, Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab Inc achieved 40.7% conversion efficiency for a pre-production 'champion' terrestrial concentrator solar cell, under 240x concentrated illumination. Currently, Spectrolab says that the minimum average efficiency of its CITJ cells in production is 35% at 500x and 25° C.

See related items:

Emcore achieves 31% efficiency for new space solar cells

NREL’s multi-junction solar cell pioneers awarded Dan David Prize

Spectrolab’s new terrestrial solar cell smashes 40% efficiency barrier

Emcore's PhotoVoltaics wins $41m multi-year order for communications satellites

Visit: http://www.emcore.com