Australia achieves new solar efficiency record

Scientists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have beaten the solar cell efficiency record, edging closer to the theoretical limits of sunlight-to-electricity conversion by photovoltaic cells.

Working at the UNSW Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, the engineers have developed a new solar cell configuration that has pushed sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency to 34.5 per cent – a striking new record that is far ahead of previous achievements.

The UNSW result has been corroborated by research partner, the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which confirmed that this figure is almost 44 per cent better than the earlier record.

Professor Martin Green, the Centre’s Director, said that this level of efficiency had not been expected for many years. ‘A recent study by Germany’s Agora Energiewende think tank set an aggressive target of 35 per cent efficiency by 2050 for a model that uses unconcentrated sunlight.’

The UNSW scientists were able to extract the maximum energy from sunlight by using a 28cm2 four-junction mini-module embedded in a prism. When sunlight hits the prism, the four-junction receiver splits it into four bands, which increases the amount of energy that can be harvested.