LONGi breaks world record for silicon solar cell efficiency

LONGi Green Energy Technology Co. set a new world record for silicon solar cell efficiency at 26.81%, according to the latest certification report of Institut für Solarenergieforschung in Hameln (ISFH). This is LONGi’s heterojunction (HJT) silicon solar cells on full-size silicon wafers going through mass production.

“This outstanding achievement will be include in the next version of efficiency tables that published in the progress in photovoltaics,” stated Martin Green, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia, during the video announcement. Green is known as the ‘Father of photovoltaics.’ “As far we know, this is the latest world record since a Japanese company set the efficiency at 26.7% in 2017.”

This is the first time in the history of photovoltaic industry that a Chinese solar technology company has set the world record for silicon solar cell efficiency, according to Green.

Since June 2021, LONGi’s R&D team has continuously broken the world record of HJT solar cell conversion efficiency, increasing it from 25.26% to 26.81%, realizing a 1.55% increase in one year and four months.

In just over a month, LONGi broke a new world record for silicon solar cell conversion efficiency with 26.74%, 26.78% and 26.81% respectively.

“Improving the efficiency and reducing the LCOE (levelized cost of energy) is the eternal theme of the development of photovoltaic industry,” said Li Zhenguo, Founder and President of LONGi, while speaking at the event. “Solar cell efficiency is the beacon of photovoltaic technology innovation. Every 0.01% improvement in solar cell conversion efficiency requires enormous efforts. In particular, crystalline silicon solar cells account for nearly 95% of the current photovoltaic market, so the ultimate efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells also shows the development potential and direction of the photovoltaic industry, which is of great significance in the entire photovoltaic industry,”

LONGi’s new world record in silicon solar cell conversion efficiency has received attention from the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Energy Transformation Commission (ETC), World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and industry associations like Smart Energy Council (SEC) in Australia, Renewables in Africa and Association of Chile Energy Solar.

For more on LONGi’s R&D, check out this episode of The Pitch:

— Solar Builder magazine

[source: https://solarbuildermag.com/news/longi-breaks-world-record-for-silicon-solar-cell-efficiency/]