Developing an energy rating for bifacial photovoltaic modules

The photovoltaic (PV) module energy rating standard series IEC 61853 does not cover bifacial PV modules. However, the market share of bifacial PV modules has dramatically increased in recent years and is projected to grow. This work demonstrates how Parts 3 and 4 of the IEC 61853 standard could be extended to bifacial modules. First, we...

Will SiOx-pinholes for SiOx/poly-Si passivating contact enhance the passivation quality?

Passivating contacts based on poly-Si have enabled record-high c-Si solar cell efficiencies due to their excellent surface passivation quality and carrier selectivity. The eventual existence of pinholes within the ultra-thin SiOx layer is one of the key factors for carrier collection, beside the tunneling mechanism. However, pinholes are usually...

Strategies for realizing high-efficiency silicon heterojunction solar cells

Silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells have achieved a record efficiency of 26.81% in a front/back-contacted (FBC) configuration. Moreover, thanks to their advantageous high V_OC and good infrared response, SHJ solar cells can be further combined with wide bandgap perovskite cells forming tandem devices to enable efficiencies well...

Optical Simulation-Aided Design and Engineering of Monolithic Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells

Monolithic perovskite/c-Si tandem solar cells have attracted enormous research attention and have achieved efficiencies above 30%. This work describes the development of monolithic tandem solar cells based on silicon heterojunction (SHJ) bottom- and perovskite top-cells and highlights light management techniques assisted by optical simulation...

Crystalline silicon solar cells with thin poly-SiO_x carrier-selective passivating contacts for perovskite/c-Si tandem applications

Single junction crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells are reaching their practical efficiency limit whereas perovskite/c-Si tandem solar cells have achieved efficiencies above the theoretical limit of single junction c-Si solar cells. Next to low-thermal budget silicon heterojunction architecture, high-thermal budget carrier-selective...

Industrially viable diffused IBC solar cells using APCVD dopant glass layers

Even though interdigitated back contact (IBC) architecture produces the most efficient solar cells, it is difficult to make them cost-effective and industrially viable. Therefore, single-sided atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) is investigated for the fabrication of IBC solar cells because it reduces the overall thermal...

Using sky-classification to improve the short-term prediction of irradiance with sky images and convolutional neural networks

Clouds moving in front or away from the sun are the leading cause of irradiance variability. These variations have a repercussion on the electricity production of photovoltaic systems. Predicting such changes is essential for proper control of these systems and for maintaining grid stability. Images from the sky have proven to help with short...

Combined Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of TOPCon Back-Contact Solar Cells with Lateral Power Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors on a Single Substrate

Nowadays, an increasing share of photovoltaic (PV) systems makes use of module- or submodule-level power electronics (PE). Furthermore, PE is used in stand-alone devices powered by PV-storage solutions. One way to facilitate further implementation of PE in PV applications is to integrate PE components into crystalline silicon PV cells. Herein...