Today I am adding more solar panels to my boat. But in view of this new breakthrough advancement in solar cell technology I may wait for these more efficient solar panels to come on the market before adding rooftop solar to my passive solar heated home. I had been planning to add rooftop solar this Fall. My passive solar Trombe Wall has saved me thousands of dollars over the 30 years since I built my home, helping me to pay off my mortgage.
From the Guardian:
Next generation cells surpass limits of today’s cells and will accelerate rollout of cheaper, more efficient solar power
By Damian Carrington
Solar power cells have raced past the key milestone of 30% energy efficiency, after innovations by multiple research groups around the world. The feat makes this a “revolutionary” year, according to one expert, and could accelerate the rollout of solar power.
Today’s solar panels use silicon-based cells but are rapidly approaching their maximum conversion of sunlight to electricity of 29%.
The breakthrough is adding a layer of perovskite, another semiconductor, on top of the silicon layer. This captures blue light from the visible spectrum, while the silicon captures red light, boosting the total light captured overall. With more energy absorbed per cell, the cost of solar electricity is even cheaper, and deployment can proceed faster to help keep global heating under control.
The perovskite-silicon “tandem” cells have been under research for about a decade, but recent technical improvements have now pushed them past the 30% milestone. Experts said that if the scaling-up of production of the tandem cells proceeds smoothly, they could be commercially available within five years, about the same time silicon-only cells reach their maximum efficiency.
Two groups published the details of their efficiency breakthroughs in the journal Science on Thursday, and at least two others are known to have pushed well beyond 30%.