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					</table><p><a href="https://midsummer.se/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Midsummer</a>, a Swedish developer, in collaboration with researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (<a href="https://www.ucla.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UCLA</a>), has developed a four-terminal perovskite-CIGS tandem solar cell that has demonstrated an efficiency of 24.9%.</p>
<p>Through a collaborative project with Yang of UCLA, Midsummer has showcased a four-terminal tandem solar cell that combines perovskite and CIGS technologies.</p>
<p>The ongoing research aims to create a two-terminal perovskite-CIGS cell, which would make this solar cell highly competitive and ideal for large-scale production.</p>
<p>This project demonstrates the possibility of constructing a tandem solar cell using Midsummer&#8217;s established production process and the Midsummer DUO machine.</p>
<p>The top cell of the tandem is a perovskite-based one that has been specifically optimized for seamless integration with Midsummer&#8217;s CIGS cells, which are utilized in the company&#8217;s range of commercial BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaics) products.</p>
<p>Yang said, “We are thrilled to have this opportunity to work with Midsummer and PMI. Our ultimate goal is to demonstrate two-terminal perovskite/CIGS tandem cells, suitable for mass production.”</p>
<p>The team said the newly developed solar cell has demonstrated impressive efficiency, which is achieved by combining a wide bandgap perovskite cell as the top layer and a CIGS cell as the bottom layer.</p>
<p>The DUO production system is designed to produce high-performance CIGS solar cells that can be made in dimensions of 156mm x 156mm on a flexible stainless-steel substrate.</p>
<p>“Integrating Midsummer’s production-proven CIGS processing with Yang’s Lab tailored perovskite shows a clear path toward expanding the reach of BIPV by improving efficiency and lowering costs,” said Leon Chiu, President of Pioneer Materials, Inc.</p>
<p>Sven Lindström, CEO of Midsummer, said perovskite-CIGS tandem cells have enormous potential for the future of solar energy, and Midsummer&#8217;s solar panel design is particularly well-suited for developing a commercial product for this type of solar panel.</p>
<p>One advantage of Midsummer&#8217;s design is that it includes a diode between each solar cell, which is an essential component for optimal efficiency in a tandem cell configuration. This feature is expected to give Midsummer&#8217;s design an edge in terms of commercial viability and potential for widespread use.</p>
<p>Recently, researchers at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/researchers-perovskite-solar-cells-saves-input-energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> that solar cells made of metal halide perovskites achieve high efficiencies and can be produced from liquid inks with little energy input.</p>
<p>In the same month, Italy-based renewable energy company Enel Green Power, researchers at the National Solar Energy Institute, and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/researchers-show-tandem-perovskite-solar-cell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> to have achieved a power conversion efficiency of 26.5% for a 2-terminal tandem perovskite solar cell.</p>


Swedish Firm Says Perovskite-CIGS Tandem Solar Cells Yield 24.9% Efficiency


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					</table><p>A team of researchers from the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (<a href="https://www.zsw-bw.de/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ZSW</a>) in Stuttgart, Germany, has combined perovskite with copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) to build a tandem solar module with an efficiency of 21% and above.</p>
<p>While the best performance attained with the tandem solar modules is just slightly higher than 22%, the institute claims to have already achieved an efficiency of up to 26.6% in smaller laboratory cells.</p>
<p>The team said their prototype, with an area of nine square centimeters, features scalable component architecture suitable for industrial manufacturing.</p>
<p>ZSW partnered with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (<a href="https://www.kit.edu/english/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KIT</a>) in this research initiative.</p>
<p>The tandem module is made of two solar modules sandwiched against each other and, as a result, delivers more electrical energy than conventional panels. The different active layers work together to increase efficiency by jointly making better use of the width of the solar spectrum than each single solar cell does on its own.</p>
<p>The institute said the tandem module is a promising next-generation technology to accelerate the rollout of photovoltaic systems that generate more solar power. Currently, the efficiency of silicon solar cells is fast approaching the practical limit of around 27%, and as it stands, tandem solar modules can increase the efficiency to well over 30%.</p>
<p>The researchers began by optimizing the submodules, wherein the top perovskite half-module had to be highly efficient and semi-transparent to allow enough light to pass through the bottom module. The team made several improvements to this end, including developing more transparent electrodes and enhancing the passivation of boundary layers.</p>
<p>The institute said their tandem structure outperformed individual cells or modules in terms of efficiency, demonstrating the superiority of tandem solar modules.</p>
<p><strong>Benefits of tandem solar modules</strong></p>
<p>Tandem solar cells that pair perovskite with CIGS offer benefits beyond high efficiency. This thin-film technology can also be deposited on plastic or steel films to make light, flexible modules that lend themselves to many more use cases.</p>
<p>They can be installed conventionally in solar parks and seamlessly integrated into vehicles and on factory roofs that cannot handle heavy loads. It also costs less to generate power with thin-film photovoltaic modules.</p>
<p>The institute’s experts used these thin-film technologies exclusively for their module. The bottom of the module is made of perovskite and CIGS.</p>
<p>The technology has been ramped up for mass production in earlier projects by the institute and industry experts. ZSW now aims to scale up further and develop tandem thin-film technology in a joint effort with interested industry clients.</p>
<p>Recently, another team of researchers from Northwestern University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Toledo <a href="https://mercomindia.com/researchers-claim-solar-cell-shows-27-4-efficiency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> to have developed an all-perovskite tandem solar cell with a conversion efficiency of 27.4%, which is comparable with traditional silicon solar cells.</p>
<p>In October, researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratory for Material Science and Technology claimed to have <a href="https://mercomindia.com/swiss-researchers-record-efficiency-for-cigs-solar-cells/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">achieved</a> an efficiency of 22.2% for CIGS flexible solar cells.</p>


Researchers Claim 21% and Higher Efficiency in Perovskite-CIGS Tandem Cells

<p>Combining thin-film solar modules based on perovskite semiconductors with semiconductors made of copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS), solar module technology could cross the 30% efficiency mark, according to a study conducted by the Karls-ruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Nice Solar Energy, and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW).</p>
<p>The study, called the Captiano Project, found that tandem solar modules which consist of two different types of modules in a layered array puts the solar spectrum to much better use than any single solar cell. The combination is said to be far more efficient. Multi-junction solar cells’ efficiency could extend beyond 30% in theory.</p>
<p>The perovskite solar cell in the CIGS-perovskite version can convert the light in the visible part of the solar spectrum into electricity. The CIGS solar cell can further absorb the light in the near-infrared spectrum that penetrates the perovskite solar cell. This technology is expected to increase efficiency and reduce the cost of solar projects.</p>
<p>Michael Powalla, ZSW board member, head of the Photovoltaics Division at ZSW and professor at KIT, said, “Given the wide spectrum of skills at work in this project ranging from fundamental science to mass manufacturing, I expect great advances to be made in the further development of this promising technology.”</p>
<p>Dr. Ulrich W. Paetzold, head of the junior research group at KIT, added, &#8220;We are developing the next generation of highly efficient thin-film tandem cells with an efficiency potential above 30 percent. Promising applications include highly efficient solar modules for building-integrated photovoltaic solutions, for example.”</p>
<p>The CIGS modules are being provided by NICE Solar Energy GmbH (Nice Solar), a German solar energy technology company. The study is being funded by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, who is providing approximately €5.2 million ($5.7 million) in funding. The project aims to develop cells with higher efficiency factors which are stable.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/australian-research-team-achieves-efficiency-solar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Recently</a>, Mercom reported that a team of research scientists from the Australian National University had a breakthrough in the efficiency of solar cells.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/ultrathin-solar-cells-efficiency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Meanwhile, nearly a month ago</a>, researchers at the French Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies (C2N) collaborated with researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (<a href="https://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ISE</a>) and others to efficiently capture the sunlight in a solar cell on an ultrathin absorbing layer made of 205 nm-thick gallium arsenide (GaAs) on a nanostructured back mirror. This new process of fabrication achieved an efficiency of nearly 20%.</p>
<p>Recently Mercom also reported on <a href="https://mercomindia.com/carbon-nanotubes-increase-efficiency-solar-modules/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rice</a> University scientists designing arrays of aligned single-wall the carbon nanotubes to channel mid-infrared radiation and significantly raise the efficiency of solar energy systems. According to the research, the carbon nanotube can be just the device to make solar panels that lose energy through heat far more efficiently.</p>


Perovskite and CIGS Semiconductors Could Boost Efficiency of Solar Modules

<p>The Central Electronics Limited (CEL), a public-sector enterprise and a manufacturer of crystalline solar cells and modules, invited an expression of interest (EoI) for a strategic alliance to manufacture flexible solar PV modules. The CEL has approximately 50-acres of land in Sahibabad, near Delhi, with good road and train connectivity, and plans to utilize it to expand manufacturing capabilities. The last date for submission of bids is May 06, 2017.</p>
<p>The CEL stated in a <a href="http://www.celindia.co.in/drupal7/sites/default/files/EOI%20Flexible.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">release</a> that it is interested in a potential collaboration from foreign companies looking for a strategic alliance for manufacturing in the field of flexible solar PV modules for the following technologies:</p>
<ul>
<li>Flexible Crystalline Silicon modules</li>
<li>Flexible CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium Selenide) solar modules</li>
<li>Flexible CZTS (Copper Zinc Tin Sulphide) solar modules</li>
<li>Any other stable new solar module technology</li>
</ul>
<p>The CEL has mandated that companies who are manufacturing and supplying flexible modules or companies, who are manufacturing and supplying equipment or technology for such type of modules and looking for manufacturing in India under “Make in India” initiatives can take part in the bid.</p>
<p>The present production capacity is 10 MW for the solar cells and 50 MW (40 MW state-of-the-art through automation and 10 MW manual line) for crystalline modules.</p>


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