The EU crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV manufacturing industry has faced strong foreign competition in the last decade. To strive in this competitive environment and differentiate itself from the competition, the EU c-Si PV manufacturing industry needs to (1) focus on highly performing c-Si PV technologies, (2) include sustainability by design, and (3) develop differentiated PV module designs for a broad range of PV applications to tap into rapidly growing existing and new markets. This is precisely the aim of the 3.5 years long H2020 funded HighLite project, which started in October 2019 under the work program LC-SC3-RES-15-2019: Increase the competitiveness of the EU PV manufacturing industry. To achieve this goal, the HighLite project focuses on bringing two advanced PV module designs and the related manufacturing solutions to higher technology readiness levels (TRL). The first module design aims to combine the benefits of n-type silicon heterojunction (SHJ) cells (high efficiency and bifaciality potential, improved sustainability, rapidly growing supply chain in the EU) with the ones of shingle assembly (higher packing density, improved modularity, and excellent aesthetics). The second module design is based on the assembly of low-cost industrial interdigitated back-contact (IBC) cells cut in half or smaller, which is interesting to improve module efficiencies and increase modularity (key for application in buildings, vehicles, etc.). This contribution provides an overview of the key results achieved so far by the HighLite project partners and discusses their relevance to help raise the EU PV industries' competitiveness. We report on promising high-efficiency industrial cell results (24.1% SHJ cell with a shingle layout and 23.9% IBC cell with passivated contacts), novel approaches for high-throughput laser cutting and edge re-passivation, module designs for BAPV, BIPV, and VIPV applications passing extended testing, and first 1-year outdoor monitoring results compared with benchmark products.

PV module testing under standard conditions is an important and well-established procedure, which plays a vital role in module rating. However, PV modules rarely operate at standard conditions therefore their field performance should be predicted based on long term outdoor monitoring or by means of models – so called energy yield models, which combine PV module characteristics with varying environmental conditions. The present work employs a bottom-up, physics-based energy yield modelling approach, which accounts to the interacting optical, thermal and electrical mechanisms in a detailed manner. Additionally, measured data is used for the accurate calibration of the models. Such an approach permits to explore the influence of cell- and module technology details on energy yield under any specific environmental conditions. The present work employs such a method to evaluate the influence of Silicon solar cell technology on energy yield under desert and moderate climates, where the interplay of different irradiance and ambient temperature levels result in a challenging PV performance prediction problem. The purpose of this work is to identify the best-suited solar cell technologies and to understand the underlying mechanisms, which lead to superior PV performance under specific climate conditions. The study is performed by means of physics-based exploratory energy yield simulations with detailed resolution of the thermal effects. Our comparison of four different cell technologies in monofacial modules highlights that superior illumination-dependent performance can contribute to annual energy yield enhancement under both moderate and desert climates amounting to 1.75% and 0.4%, respectively; while a 0.04%/°C advantage in relative temperature coefficient increases annual energy yield (by 1.2%) only under a desert climate.