50-75% boost to solar panel efficiency

[ursaminortaur]

South Korean firm Qcells has announced the first production line for perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells, which promise an increase in efficiency of between 50-75 percent compared to standard solar panels.

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/solar-panels-perovskite-renewable-energy-b2342287.html

A South Korean firm has announced the world’s first production line for perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells, which promise an increase in efficiency of between 50-75 per cent compared to standard solar panels.

The commercialisation of solar cells that use perovskite follows years of breakthroughs with the mineral, which has been hailed as a ‘miracle material’ for its potential to transform various industries, including renewable energy.

Seoul-based Qcells said it will invest $100 million to roll out the next-generation solar cell technoloy, which until now has been limited to lab tests and academic research.

[odysseus2000]

Kind of wonder if it is practical.

There have been several other suggestions for increasing solar panel efficiency including using wave length shifters to shift light to be absorption frequencies, using small lens to focus the light onto small panel elements etc., but how many make it to production?

Regards,

[bungeejumper]

There have been several other suggestions for increasing solar panel efficiency including using wave length shifters to shift light to be absorption frequencies, using small lens to focus the light onto small panel elements etc., but how many make it to production?

I'm pretty sure it comes down to the cost/efficiency relationship. But also to geography. I was researching an article about eight years ago, about the competition between super-high-yielding solar panels being developed in America, versus the much less efficient (but massively cheaper) panels used by the Chinese.

The Chinese weren't the least bit worried about using inefficient solar panels, because they had an absolutely huge country whose farming regions had become significantly depopulated since the move to the cities. If a small town needed thirty football pitches' worth of panels for its energy, then so be it, they had the space available, and to hell with how it looked. Western Europe doesn't have that privilege.

BJ

[ursaminortaur]

Kind of wonder if it is practical.

There have been several other suggestions for increasing solar panel efficiency including using wave length shifters to shift light to be absorption frequencies, using small lens to focus the light onto small panel elements etc., but how many make it to production?

Regards,

They must think it is practical since as the article says they are setting up a commercial production line.

[odysseus2000]

Kind of wonder if it is practical.

There have been several other suggestions for increasing solar panel efficiency including using wave length shifters to shift light to be absorption frequencies, using small lens to focus the light onto small panel elements etc., but how many make it to production?

Regards,

They must think it is practical since as the article says they are setting up a commercial production line.

Articles often satay this & then nothing happens as they don’t get enough funding!

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

There have been several other suggestions for increasing solar panel efficiency including using wave length shifters to shift light to be absorption frequencies, using small lens to focus the light onto small panel elements etc., but how many make it to production?

I'm pretty sure it comes down to the cost/efficiency relationship. But also to geography. I was researching an article about eight years ago, about the competition between super-high-yielding solar panels being developed in America, versus the much less efficient (but massively cheaper) panels used by the Chinese.

The Chinese weren't the least bit worried about using inefficient solar panels, because they had an absolutely huge country whose farming regions had become significantly depopulated since the move to the cities. If a small town needed thirty football pitches' worth of panels for its energy, then so be it, they had the space available, and to hell with how it looked. Western Europe doesn't have that privilege.

BJ

There seems to be a vast amount of roof space in Europe that could be used for solar panels. Most countries could get all the solar electricity needed with a few % of the land area & a lot of that could come from roof tops.

The difference in efficiency between the best & worst solar systems seems at best to be a factor of two, unless I have missed something & siting can give similar factors depending on angle of panels, shadows etc.

Regards,

[quelquod]

[quote="odysseus2000"
The difference in efficiency between the best & worst solar systems seems at best to be a factor of two, unless I have missed something & siting can give similar factors depending on angle of panels, shadows etc.

Regards,[/quote]
All true but it still comes down to eventual volume production costs and if they can compete on price per square metre?

[gryffron]

And of course, govt regulations have a big impact. In the UK a domestic system can only be 4kW max. So why should I care whether that uses 60% or 30% of my roof? Regulations often take a long time to catch up with technology

Gryff