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The sight of solar panels installed on rooftops and large energy farms has become common in many parts of the world. Even in gray and rainy Britain, solar power is becoming a major part of electricity generation.
This surge in solar power generation is being fueled by two important developments. First, scientists, engineers, and people in industry are learning how to manufacture solar panels by the billions. Every manufacturing step has been meticulously optimized to ensure extremely low cost production. The second and most important aspect is that panels’ power conversion efficiency (a measure of how much sunlight they can convert into electricity) is constantly improving.
The more efficient your solar panels are, the cheaper your electricity bill will be. You may be wondering after hearing this. How efficient can solar energy be and will it affect our energy bills?
Solar panels currently available on the market convert about 20 to 22 percent of sunlight into electricity. But a new study published in the journal Nature shows that by leveraging a new technology called tandem solar cells, future solar panels could reach efficiencies of up to 34 percent. . This study demonstrated record power conversion efficiency for tandem solar cells.
What is a tandem solar cell?
Traditional solar cells are made using a single material that absorbs sunlight. Almost all solar panels are now made of silicon, the same material that is at the core of microchips. Although silicon is a mature and reliable material, its efficiency is limited to approximately 29%.
To overcome this limitation, scientists turned to tandem solar cells, which stack two solar cell materials on top of each other to capture more solar energy.
In a new Nature paper, a research team from energy giant LONGi has reported a new tandem solar cell that combines silicon and perovskite materials. Thanks to improved solar harvesting, the new perovskite-silicon tandem achieved a world record efficiency of 33.89%.
Although discovered less than 20 years ago, perovskite solar cell materials have emerged as an ideal complement to established silicon technology. The secret lies in the adjustability of light absorption. Perovskite materials can capture high-energy blue light more efficiently than silicon.
In this way, energy losses are avoided and the overall tandem efficiency is increased. Other materials called III-V semiconductors are also used in tandem cells to achieve higher efficiency. The problem is that only small solar cells can be manufactured in conjunction with focused light, as they are difficult and expensive to manufacture.
The scientific community is putting a lot of effort into perovskite solar cells. They maintained an incredible pace of development, increasing efficiency (for a single cell in the lab) from 14 percent to 26 percent in just 10 years. These advances enable integration into ultra-high efficiency tandem solar cells and demonstrate a path to scaling solar power technology to the trillions of watts needed for the world to decarbonize energy production. .
solar power cost
New record-breaking tandem cells can capture an additional 60% of the sun’s energy. This means fewer panels are needed to produce the same energy, reducing installation costs and the land (or roof area) required for a solar power plant.
This also means that power plant operators can generate solar energy at higher profits. However, due to the way electricity prices are set in the UK, consumers may never notice a difference in their electricity bills. The real difference comes when you consider rooftop solar installations, where square footage is limited and space needs to be utilized effectively.
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