LONGi Claims 33.9% Solar Cell Efficiency Record

It doesn’t quite rate a “record tumbles” headline, but LONGi has added a couple of extra points to solar cell efficiency: its crystalline silicon-perovskite (CSP) tandem cells have set a world record efficiency of 33.9 percent.

The company says its record was certified by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and inches ahead of an efficiency record of 33.7 percent set in May this year by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

The company says the 33.9 percent CSP efficiency is also the first time these kinds of cells have surpassed the theoretical maximum efficiency of single junction solar cells.

Tandem solar cells are more complex and potentially more expensive than single-junction cells, but can offer the higher efficiency by effectively using a broader range of the solar spectrum.

The Shockley-Quieser (S-Q) theoretical efficiency limit for single-jucntion cells is 33.7 percent – a limit first calculated at the somewhat-lower 30 percent in 1961, by William Shockley and Hans-Joachim Queisser, according to Wikipedia.

“This provides meaningful empirical data to demonstrate the advantages of crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells over crystalline silicon single junction solar cells in terms of efficiency”, the company said.

LONGi solar is preening, probably with good reason: it said its silicon heterojunction cell efficiency record of 26.81 percent (set in November 2022) combined with the CSP record makes it “the dual champion” for cell efficiency, and the CSP record is also the first time that a Chinese company has taken that particular record since 2015.

“As a mainstream solar cell technology occupying more than 90 percent of the market share, the efficiency of crystalline silicon single-junction cells continues to improve, getting closer and closer to its theoretical efficiency limit of 29.4 percent”, the company’s founder and president Zhenguo Li said.

Crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem cells are the next track for high-efficiency cell development, he said, with a theoretical efficiency limit of 43 percent.

Longi are a major player in the Australian residential solar panel market with a reputation for good value, well supported panels. Longi solar panel reviews from Australian consumers on SolarQuotes rate them  highly with an average score of 4.9/5 from 969 ratings.