SunDrive, backed by Cannon-Brookes, produces first panel with record-busting solar cell

The Australian start up that in September achieved a new benchmark for solar cell efficiency has this week notched up another major new milestone, with the production of its first full-size solar panel.

SunDrive – a company spun out of the University of New South Wales and backed by billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency – announced the exciting achievement on Wednesday in a low-key LinkedIn post.

It’s a big deal for the Sydney-based company, which in October of 2020 won $9 million in grant funding from ARENA to use its “new breed” of solar cells to produce a commercial-size, Australian made PV module for use on household rooftops.

SunDrive’s technology replaces the growing use of silver in solar cells – a key barrier to the broader adoption of next generation technologies – with copper, which is significantly cheaper and more readily sourced.

The concept was originally developed by SunDrive CEO Vince Allen during his PhD at UNSW. Allen then went on to found SunDrive in 2015 with his flatmate from his undergraduate studies, David Hu.

In September, SunDrive’s technology claimed a world record of 25.54 per cent for commercial-size silicon solar cell efficiency, overtaking the previous record held by China solar giant Longi.

And then just last week, the company revealed on LinkedIn that it was turning its world record cells into modules, ahead of the next step – to perform rigorous testing and cycling to ensure the technology would “outperform and outlast” its competitors.

This week, the result: a high efficiency rooftop solar panel, made in Australia from record breaking Australian technology.

“We have successfully fabricated our first ever full-size solar panel!,” the LinkedIn post said.

“From our process engineers interconnecting every cell to our build team designing the tools to make all this possible, everyone has put in immense effort into making this a reality.

“We are now gearing up to fully automate our technology as we continue to grow our world class team.”

To read the full story on RenewEconomy sister site One Step Off The Grid, click here