Tandem, Reduced Operating Temperature, High-Efficiency and Vehicle-Integrated Solar Photovoltaics

Competitive advantage

• Hold the world record of 25% for highest efficiency PERC (passivated emitter and rear) silicon solar cell, a cell structure invented at UNSW and now accounting for most of the world’s commercial production
• Hold the world record for the most efficient solar module at 40.6% energy conversion efficiency, a multi-cell stack involving 4 cells, each responding to a different range of solar wavelengths

Impact

• Over US$20 billion of UNSW-invented and -developed PERC cell modules sold worldwide in 2018
• Former team members responsible for successful diversification of manufacturing industry into China which resulted in a tenfold solar module price reduction in the years from 2008 to 2018

Successful applications

• BP Solar “Saturn” cell (produced 1992-2006)
• Suntech Power “Pluto” cell (2009-2013)
• PERC cell (2012-present)
• Capabilities and facilities
• Laboratory for fabrication of high-efficiency solar cells
• Solar Industrial Research Facility for evaluating full-sized wafers at pilot production level

Our partners

• BP Solar
• Suntech Power
• Trina Solar
• Jinko Solar
• Longi Solar