The latest generation perovskite-silicon tandem solar panels are finally arriving on the market. The company Oxford PV has delivered the first 72-cell modules to a US customer
Oxford PV's tandem perovskite modules represent the latest generation of photovoltaic panels.
The latest news on the photovoltaic market
The tandem perovskite photovoltaic modules continue to make progress in company laboratories and university academies. And although there is still a long way to go, the first batch of latest generation photovoltaic panels has already reached the market. This was announced by Oxford PV, one of the first companies committed to bringing perovskite photovoltaics into production. On September 5, the company explained that it had started the commercialization of its multi-junction technology with the first shipment of solar panels to a US customer. Defining the operation as “the world’s first commercial sale” for this new photovoltaic segment.
“The sale of this technology is a breakthrough for the energy industry,” said David Ward, CEO of Oxford PV. “High-efficiency technologies are the future of the solar industry and that future is starting now.”
Perovskite-Si tandem solar panels, new efficiency record
A natural step given the progress made over the years by Oxford PV. The company completed its first perovskite-silicon cell factory in 2021, in Germany. The site currently hosts a production line with an annual capacity of about 100 MW. At the same time, the company has continued to work to improve the efficiency of this technology at the module level.
The latest major result was achieved this year. In June 2024, Oxford PV announced that its 60-cell double-glass residential PV module with a designated area of just over 1.6 m2, now boasts an efficiency of 26.9%. This value exceeds that of the best silicon modules currently on the market with a similar designated area. The efficiency was independently measured and certified by Fraunhofer CalLab.
The first perovskite-on-silicon tandem modules are on the market
The first batch delivered will, however, be of another type. These are latest generation 72-cell photovoltaic panels, obviously still composed of perovskite-on-silicon tandem units, and with a module-level efficiency of 24.5%. “They will be used – according to a company press release – in a utility-scale installation, reducing the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), contributing to more efficient land use and generating more electricity from the same area.”
In the coming years, Oxford PV plans to allocate production from its Brandenburg an der Havel plant in Germany to other utility sector customers, special products, and pilot residential applications. At the same time, increasing production to gigawatt level in a future high-volume manufacturing site.
Latest generation perovskite photovoltaic panels: the advantages
Interest in perovskite as a photovoltaic material took off starting in 2009. The intrinsic qualities of this class of semiconductors (these are a family of synthetic materials and not the mineral perovskite) have made it a particularly attractive field of research. The advantages? Greater optical absorption properties together with high mobility and diffusion length of charge carriers. Not only that. Perovskites can be tuned to respond to different colors in the solar spectrum by modifying the material composition. This flexibility allows perovskites to be combined with another photovoltaic absorber material to create multi-junction tandem architectures.
However, compared to silicon, these materials suffer from greater sensitivity to humidity, oxygen, or heat. To increase stability, researchers are studying degradation both in the perovskite material itself and in the surrounding device layers.
Perovskite solar cells, what is the current efficiency?
In a very short time, perovskite photovoltaics have achieved performances that took silicon photovoltaics several decades. Just think that in 2009, an industry study reported having achieved 3.81% and 3.13% conversion efficiency with two perovskite solar cells using iodine (I) and bromine (Br) as halide materials, respectively. In 2019, efficiency had already risen to 22.1%. Today, the best result for single-junction technology is that achieved by Northwest University: a highly stable 0.05 cm2 perovskite solar cell with a conversion efficiency of 26.15% (data certified by NREL).
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