New solar module efficiency record set

By Nathan

A new solar photovoltaic efficiency record has been set. The new module achieved a solar efficiency rating of 33.5%.

One of the leading concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solar power systems companies, Amonix Inc., just announced that it has broken the efficiency record for photovoltaics operating in real-world conditions. Setting a new high with a 33.5% efficiency rating, peaking at 34.2%. That means that the solar module successfully converted more than a third of the energy of direct sunlight into electricity.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) tested the module back in May, confirming “an outdoor operating efficiency rating of 33.5% for an Amonix module, breaking the previous 30.3% record also held by Amonix. Over several days of on-sun testing conducted by NREL, the module efficiency peaked at 34.2%. This is the highest efficiency ever reported under real-world, operating conditions for a solar PV module,” a news release has just stated.

“While the mainstream PV industry has made critical reductions in large-scale production costs and incremental improvements in power-conversion efficiencies, much of the world is unaware of the dramatic progress that has been made by CPV companies toward achieving high power-conversion efficiencies”

“This is a huge milestone for Amonix and the CPV industry,” said Vahan Garboushian, Amonix Founder and CTO. “We have been at the forefront of CPV technology breakthroughs and have consistently proven that CPV offers the highest efficiencies of all solar technologies in the right operating conditions with plenty of headroom. Amonix is focused on driving CPV costs down and breaking efficiency records in the near future.”

Achieving an efficiency greater than 33.3% for a commercial module is a huge milestone. That efficiency, one-third, has been targeted by the Department of Energy as a major goal for some time.