Solar cell generations over 40% efficiency

Multijunction III-V concentrator cells of several different types have demonstrated solar conversion efficiency over 40% since 2006, and represent the only third-generation photovoltaic technology to enter commercial power generation markets so far. The next stage of solar cell efficiency improvement, from 40% to 50%-efficient production cells, is perhaps the most important yet, since it is in this range that concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems can become the lowest cost option for solar electricity, competing with conventional power generation without government subsidies. The impact of 40% and 50% cell efficiency on cost-effective geographic regions for CPV systems is calculated in the continental US, Europe, and North Africa. We take a systematic look at a progression of multijunction cell architectures that will take us up to 50% efficiency, using modeling grounded in well-characterized solar cell materials systems of today’s 40% cells, discussing the theoretical, materials science, and manufacturing considerations for the most promising approaches. The effects of varying solar spectrum and current balance on energy production in 4-junction, 5-junction, and 6-junction terrestrial concentrator cells are shown to be noticeable, but are far outweighed by the increased efficiency of these advanced cell designs. Production efficiency distributions of the last five generations of terrestrial concentrator solar cells are discussed. Experimental results are shown for a highly manufacturable, upright metamorphic 3-junction GaInP/GaInAs/Ge solar cell with 41.6% efficiency independently confirmed at 484 suns (48.4W/cm) (AM1.5D, ASTM G173-03, 25 C), the highest demonstrated for a cell of this type requiring a single metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy growth run. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.