SolarWorld AG introduces five bus bar technology
SolarWorld, after an upgrade of all production to high-efficiency PERC solar cells, has announced plans to bring cells and modules with five bus bar technology on the market in the middle of this year.
The current market standard is three bus bars (contacts on the front side of solar cells, at which they are connected). The five bus bar technology alone increases the efficiency by up to two percentage points. With this technology, SolarWorld reached a cell efficiency of 21.51 percent recently and thus topped its own world record for industrial PERC cells based on crystalline p-type silicon wafer.
"As much power as possible in the smallest space with maximum durability "“ this is the strategy of SolarWorld. Thus, we reduce the total cost for our customers, increase their electricity yields and make solar power more and more competitive with conventional power generation "“ all made in Germany and made in the USA," said Dr.-Ing. E. h. Frank Asbeck, CEO of SolarWorld AG.
SolarWorld is transferring the record-breaking technology to production. The company plans to launch the first 300 watt module with 60 solar cells on the market in the third quarter.
To integrate the five bus bar technology, the existing stringer systems, which connect solar cells to strings of 10 solar cells, will be modified. In addition, printing on the cell front side will be adjusted to five bus bars and finer lines. This process has started at SolarWorld's site in Hillsboro, Oregon. Modifications there shall be completed during the second quarter.
