KEYWORDS: Solar concentrators, Solar cells, Solar energy, Photovoltaics, Manufacturing, Multijunction solar cells, Silicon, Lanthanum, Brain-machine interfaces, Temperature metrology
Concentrator systems are emerging as a low-cost, high-volume option for solar-generated electricity due to the very
high utilization of the solar cell, leading to a much lower $/Watt cost of a photovoltaic system. Parallel to this is the
onset of alternative solar cell technologies, such as the very high efficiency multi-junction solar cells developed at
NREL and Spectrolab over the last two decades. The relatively high cost of these types of solar cells has relegated
their use to non-terrestrial applications. However, recent advancements in both multi-junction concentrator cell
efficiency and their stability under high flux densities has made their large-scale terrestrial deployment significantly
more viable.
Amonix has designed, developed and fabricated modules using the high efficiency multi-junction cells from
Spectrolab. One of these modules has been deployed at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The module has been
in continuous operation beginning May 2006. The efficiency has been measured periodically and has shown a
range from 26.1% to 28.5%. The latest measurement, made on February 20th showed an efficiency of 28.0 % at
956 DNI and an ambient temperature of 13 °C. This excellent stability of the multi-junction module's performance
promises to pave the way for future installations of this advanced technology. One short-term example of this is a
new Amonix-designed module capable of 30% efficiency and 300 Watts per module. This module's performance,
along with more testing of the long-term performance of the initial design will be presented at the time of the
conference.
KEYWORDS: Solar cells, Solar concentrators, Silicon, Silicon solar cells, Multijunction solar cells, Sun, Brain-machine interfaces, Manufacturing, Semiconducting wafers, Gallium arsenide
Amonix has become the first company to begin production of high
concentration silicon solar cells where volumes are over 10 MW/year. Higher volumes are available due to the method of manufacture; Amonix solely uses semiconductor foundries for solar cell production. In the previous years of system and cell field testing, this method of manufacturing enabled Amonix to maintain a very low overhead while incurring a high cost for the solar cell. However, recent simplifications to the solar cell processing sequence resulted in cost reduction and increased yield. This new process has been tested by producing small qualities in very short time periods, enabling a simulation of high volume production. Results have included over 90% wafer yield, up to 100% die yield and world record performance (η =27.3%). This reduction in silicon solar cell cost has increased the required efficiency for multi-junction concentrator solar cells to be competitive / advantageous. Concentrator systems are emerging as a low-cost, high volume option for solar-generated electricity due to the very high utilization of the solar cell, leading to a much lower $/Watt cost of a photovoltaic system. Parallel to this is the onset of alternative solar cell technologies, such as the very high efficiency multi-junction solar cells developed at NREL over the last two decades. The relatively high cost of these type of solar cells has relegated their use to non-terrestrial applications. However, recent advancements in both multi-junction concentrator cell efficiency and their stability under high flux densities has made their large-scale terrestrial deployment significantly more viable. This paper presents Amonix's experience and testing results of both high-efficiency silicon rear-junction solar cells and multi-junction solar cells made for concentrated light operation.
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