According to the manufacturer Longi, the remarkable efficiency of 34.6% has already been confirmed by the European Solar Test Installation https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/european-solar-test-installation_en . This EU-funded authority measures and tests solar modules. Long-term tests are also carried out there.
Thus, almost 35% of the energy of incident light should be converted directly into electricity. This means that the last world record – also set by a Longi module – from exactly a year ago has been beaten by 3.3%.
Compared to currently used solar cells, the efficiency is more than 50% higher. A photovoltaic installation of this type could therefore produce half as much electricity on the same surface area. If an older system is installed, which is probably no longer at full capacity due to its age, the amount of electricity could even be tripled or quadrupled.
This exceptional value is made possible by the combination of promising perovskite solar cells with conventional silicon-based cells. This combination takes advantage of the fact that perovskite modules are almost entirely permeable to long-wave light in particular.
This long-wave light, which is mainly in the infrared range which is no longer visible, is converted into electricity by conventional silicon-based solar cells. In a way, the two technologies complement each other almost perfectly.
The 22 to 25% efficiency achieved today by commercial solar cells and almost 20% for perovskite could therefore be used to build an even more efficient solar module at some point, or even in the near future.
The only problem that remains is that of durability. The mineral perovskite used in solar modules is currently losing its performance too quickly. Efficiency drops quickly – faster than would be desirable for the rooftop or field system.
However, progress is still being made in this area. Recently, a commercially manufactured PV module with a 10-year warranty was introduced, which is based on perovskite. According to the manufacturer Utmo Light, the lifespan of the cells themselves is even 25 years. However, there is still room for improvement in terms of efficiency.
So there is still a lot to do. However, some milestones have been set.
