MiaSolé, a provider of thin-film solar solutions, has announced that the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, one of the largest solar research institutes in Europe, has confirmed an 18.64% aperture area efficiency on a commercial size flexible PV module.

Commenting on this latest achievement, Atiye Bayman, CTO of MiaSolé, said, “This latest achievement in the flexible thin-film solar module performance is a testament to MiaSole’s advantages of performing research and development at the manufacturing scale. Rapid improvements in process development can be realized, showing the extendibility of our Roll Coater technology for our customers.”

MiaSolé Hi-Tech Corp, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hanergy, is a total solutions provider of flexible thin-film solar technology and its innovative CIGS solar cell architecture makes it ideal for a wide variety of applications such as building integrated photovoltaics and portable mobile energy devices.

As per the company’s website, the innovative solar cell is based on the highest efficiency thin-film technology available today, and its flexible cell architecture makes it ideal for a variety of solutions.

Speaking about MiaSolé’s prowess in the solar research arena, CEO of MiaSolé, Jie Zhang, said, “After 15 years of dedicated research and development in the Silicon Valley, MiaSolé is proud to enable the flexible thin-film solar module production at the highest efficiency level of the polycrystalline silicon solar modules produced by the Tier-1 manufacturers today.”

Researchers around the world are actively working on increasing the efficiency of solar modules that play a crucial role in boosting the overall generation from a solar project.

In one such move, the researchers at Rice University scientists are designing arrays of aligned single-wall carbon nanotubes to channel mid-infrared radiation (heat) and significantly raise the efficiency of solar energy systems. According to the research, carbon nanotube can be just the device to make solar panels that lose energy through heat far more efficiently.

Being developed by Gururaj Naik and Junichiro Kono, the aligned nanotube films are conduits that absorb waste heat and turn it into narrow-bandwidth photons. Because electrons in nanotubes can only travel in one direction, the aligned films are metallic in that direction while insulating in the perpendicular direction, an effect Gururaj Naik called ‘hyperbolic dispersion.’

In another development, researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) have achieved 21.6% solar cell efficiency. This is the highest value attained for perovskite cells that are above specific dimensions. In the current market scenario, rooftop solar panels being installed have an efficiency of 17% to 18%.

Image credit: Building Materials Malaysia