High efficiency prismatic cover silicon concentrator solar cells

Abstract

Improvements in large area, bifacially contacted silicon concentrator solar cells are reported. By combining prismatic covers which steer incoming light away from top contacts with improved low-resistivity cell processing, efficiencies above 25% were achieved for 1.6 cm2 cells for concentration levels up to 200 suns. Several hundred cells of this type have been supplied to Sandia National Laboratories for incorporation into the next generation of high-performance silicon concentrator modules, which are expected to reach a module efficiency of 20%.