Solar manufacturer JinkoSolar says it has set a new efficiency record for a large-area N-type TOPCon monocrystalline silicon PV cell.
The 24.2% efficiency was achieved in testing carried out by the Photovoltaic and Wind Power Systems Quality Test Center at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
It wasn’t clear from the announcement if this was a world record claim[1.Frauhofer ISE mentions its related record of 25.3% back in 2016] or just that the company had bettered its own record, but Jinko was pretty chuffed about it.
“N-type HOT technology is a key R&D milestone for JinkoSolar and is opening up a new path towards developing high efficiency industrial products,” said the company.
It says its HOT cell design is based on tunnel oxide passivating contact (TOPCon) technology. As for the N-Type reference, you can learn more about N-Type and P-Type cells here. Regarding the HOT acronym, I have no idea what it stands for.
JinkoSolar is one of the behemoths of the PV manufacturing industry. The vertically integrated player says it had an annual production capacity capability of 9.2 GW for silicon ingots and wafers, 6.5 GW for cells, and 10 GW for modules as at September last year.
The company’s panels have been popular here in Australia, with JinkoSolar panels scoring favourably in SolarQuotes’ reviews section. Reviews are contributed by Australians who have had the modules installed for at least twelve months. JinkoSolar panels are included on SQ’s trusted solar brands chart, at the “entry level” (most affordable) end of the chart.
JinkoSolar is also involved in an Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) backed project seeking to identify and address sources of power loss in silicon photovoltaic technology. Other project participants include UNSW, Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems and the USA’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Other Solar Tech Records Tumble
New solar cell and panel conversion efficiency records often occur with incremental gains these days, but happen quite regularly. There’s been several new world records claimed by other manufacturers very recently.
Earlier this month, Longi Solar said it had achieved a new monocrystalline silicon PERC cell world record conversion efficiency (24.06%) and Risen Energy laid claim to a mono PERC panel efficiency record of “up to 21%”. Japan’s Solar Frontier also recently said it bagged a record for thin-film solar cell efficiency (23.5%) on a 1cm² cell.
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