CHINA’S SUNTECH SETS PV RECORD

Suntech Claims New World Record in Silicon Panel Efficiency; The Fraunhofer Institute verifies that a Suntech Power multicrystalline silicon panel has beaten Sandia’s record. Suntech intends to have a 300MW capacity to produce its new Pluto cells and panels in 2010.
Ucilla Wang, August 19, 2009 (GreenTech Media)

"…[A solar panel composed of Suntech Power Holding's] newly developed [multicrystalline silicon] Pluto cells [set the world record for efficiency by converting] 15.6 percent of the sunlight…[hitting them] into electricity, Suntech said…The Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems in Germany, one of the few labs in the world whose test results are recognized by the industry, verified…The panel rolled off a new factory line…set up to start shipping Pluto panels earlier this year.

"The new record will be included by the science journal Progress in Photovoltaics (PIP)…Suntech's efficiency number isn't much higher than the 15.5 percent record previously held by Sandia [National Laboratories]. But Suntech contends its panel could have surpassed 16 percent if it were tested without its frame, as was…Sandia's panel."

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"…[Suntech's Pluto cells were] developed with technology licensed from the University of New South Wales. Suntech's founder and CEO Zhengrong Shi taught at the university for years…The university holds the world record for silicon cells made in a lab, which were tested by Sandia and yielded 25 percent efficiency. Cells made in the labs tend to be able to achieve higher efficiencies than those from commercial production lines.

"The Pluto technology focuses on improving the cell's ability to trap light to boost electricity production. Pluto cells also use copper instead of silver…for transporting the electricity produced by the cells…[Silver] can be pricey. Copper has similar conductivity but is cheaper. Suntech also uses less copper to further reduce cost…[but] declined to disclose Pluto's manufacturing costs."

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"Pluto can be used to make either monocrystalline [19 percent efficiency] or multicrystalline [17 percent efficiency] cells…[M]onocrystalline cells are more [time consuming, energy intensive and] expensive to make…but they yield higher efficiencies. Most of the silicon panels on the market today are of the multicrystalline variety…SunPower, in San Jose, Calif., is known for producing the most efficient [22.5 percent] monocrystalline silicon cells…Its panels could achieve a little over 19 percent efficiency.

"Suntech started shipping Pluto panels earlier this year, but the volume [1-to-2 megawatts per month] has been small…The company expects to ship 10 megawatts to 15 megawatts of Pluto panels by the end of 2009…[I]nstalled in China and Australia...Suntech is waiting for IEC and UL certification to sell [Pluto cells] in Europe and the United States…Suntech is set to have the manufacturing capacity to produce 300 megawatts of Pluto cells and panels per year [in 2010]…[by converting] existing lines to make Pluto products…"