From Guest Blogger Mathias: NREL Sets New Efficiency Record with Two-Junction Solar Cell

The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL – pictured left) has just announced that they’ve set a new world efficiency record for two-junction solar cells at 31.1%.

The last couple of days have been extraordinary in terms of new technological advancements in the solar industry – Sharp just announced a couple of days ago that they`ve created highest converting solar cell to date at 44.4%.

The new solar cell by NREL is a combination of a gallium indium phosphide solar cell attached to a gallium arsenide cell. The new cell belongs in the category of III-V solar cells since it is based on materials from the third and fifth column of the periodic table.

NREL`s famous chart, Best Research-Cell Efficiencies, has been updated to make room for the new record:

The new innovations take us closer to the 48% solar cell efficiency goal set by the Department of Energy`s (DOE) Foundation Program to Advance Cell Efficiency (F-PACE). Right now, these kinds of solar cells are reserved for research and satellites in space. Whether we`ll ever see multi-junction solar cells in large-scale applications here on Earth remains to see. Cost-efficiency is the most important factor – a criteria that is currently only met by mono-, polycrystalline and certain thin-film solar panels.

Source: NREL