| Work Detail |
The 9 cm² cell consists of an upper cell based on a perovskite absorber and a lower cell with a heterojunction structure (HJT). The results improve the 29.8% efficiency that CEA and Enel achieved for the same cell type in December. Researchers at Frances Institut National de la Energia Solar (INES) – a division of the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) – and Italian renewable energy specialist Enel Green Power say they have achieved a power conversion efficiency of 30.8% for a two-terminal tandem perovskite-silicon solar cell. The cell consists of an upper cell based on a perovskite absorber and a lower cell with a heterojunction structure (HJT). It has an active surface of 9 cm². The scientists said the new result improves on the 29.8% efficiency they achieved for the same type of cell in September, without providing technical details about the cell improvement. “The decisive factor is the ability of our researchers to take the tandem further towards an industrialisation made possible by the choice of materials that, working closely with CEA at INES, have allowed us to scale this technology to areas larger than cm²,” said Cosimo Gerardi, Chief Technology Officer of Enel’s 3Sun unit, in September. Enel Green Power, through its 3Sun unit, is betting on a 25.5% efficient n-type heterojunction (HJT) cell for its new 3 GW solar module factory being built in Catania, southern Italy. It recently stated that this could lead to module efficiencies of over 24%. Starting in 2026, Enel Green Power plans to offer even more efficient solar modules based on tandem silicon-perovskite cells. The final products will reach efficiencies of around 30%. CEA-INES and Enel Green Power have jointly developed DC/DC maximum power point trackers (MPPT). They are also working on high-efficiency bifacial photovoltaic panels. In addition, in March 2022 they achieved a power conversion efficiency of 24.47% for a gallium-doped p-type heterojunction silicon solar cell. |
