21.9% efficient silicon bifacial solar cells

Author

Zhou, C.Z. ; Verlinden, P.J. ; Crane, R.A. ; Swanson, R.M. ; Sinton, R.A.

Author_Institution

SunPower Corp., Sunnyvale, CA, USA

fYear

1997

fDate

29 Sep-3 Oct 1997

Firstpage

287

Lastpage

290

Abstract

This paper reports the efficiency of bifacial silicon solar cells and mini-modules fabricated at SunPower Corp. The best cell has AM1.5G front efficiency of 21.9% and rear efficiency of 13.9%. The mini-modules, each containing 20 bifacial cells, attain efficiency as high as the average efficiency of their individual cells. The best module has AM1.5G front efficiency of 20.66% and rear efficiency of 10.54%. Optical properties of the bifacial cells have also been measured and analyzed. The results show that bifacial cells, compared to monofacial cells, absorb less infrared light and thus they can operate at lower temperature in space

Keywords

elemental semiconductors; optical properties; semiconductor device manufacture; semiconductor device models; semiconductor device testing; silicon; solar cell arrays; solar cells; thermal analysis; 10.54 percent; 13.9 percent; 20.66 percent; 21.9 percent; Si bifacial solar cells; SunPower Corporation; fabrication; front efficiency; infrared light absorption; mini-modules; operating temperature; optical properties; rear efficiency; Airplanes; Coatings; Cranes; Diodes; Earth; Lighting; Optical reflection; Photovoltaic cells; Silicon; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1997., Conference Record of the Twenty-Sixth IEEE

Conference_Location

Anaheim, CA

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3767-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1997.654085

Filename

654085