Open Access43% Sunlight to Electricity Conversion Efficiency Using CPV
Author(s) -
Marc Steiner,
Gerald Siefer,
Thomas Schmidt,
Maike Wiesenfarth,
Frank Dimroth,
Andreas W. Bett
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
ieee journal of photovoltaics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.023
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 2156-3403
pISSN - 2156-3381
DOI - 10.1109/jphotov.2016.2551460
Subject(s) - photonics and electrooptics
A concentrator standard test condition (CSTC) efficiency of 43.4% for the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity is demonstrated with a subunit of a concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) module. This is the highest reported CSTC efficiency for CPV applications thus far. This test device consists of a four-junction solar cell and uses an achromatic full-glass lens for concentrating the sunlight. The high efficiency is made possible by the combination of a high-efficiency solar cell (46%) and a high-efficiency lens (95%). The I–V curve of the solar cell has been measured for varying distances to the glass lens and compared with the results for a silicone-on-glass Fresnel lens. In this manner, chromatic aberration effects on solar cell performance are discussed in this study.