thin film solar cells Archives

Need some solar energy facts or solar power facts? This page is aimed at becoming the best go-to source on the web for solar facts… if it isn’t already. The solar facts below are succinct and organized by categories and subcategories. To help improve the page, please feel free to add any solar facts you are aware of in the comments below… or correct ours if we’ve got any wrong. If you do either of those things, just be sure to include a link to a reliable source — we want to be very careful here to check the facts before publishing them. Cool? Cool.

Solar farm in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Photo Credit: Marika Krakowiak / Solar Love

Solar Energy Facts / Solar Power Facts Table Of Contents

The main categories below are:

— Solar Records

Solar Cell Efficiency Records
Solar Module Efficiency Records
Largest Solar Power Plants
Solar Market Leaders
Solar Vehicles

— Solar Policies

Feed-in Tariffs
Net Metering
Value of Solar Tariffs
Renewable Energy Standards (RES) / Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) / Renewable Obligation
PACE Financing
Solar Mandates
Rebates, Tax Credits, Grants, & Loans
Interconnection
Permitting
More Info, More Policies?

— How Solar PV Works

— Chime In!

Now, on to the solar energy and solar power facts!!

Solar Records

Solar Cell Efficiency Records

Overall world solar cell efficiency record (also the concentrator triple-junction solar cell efficiency record) — 44.7% (Fraunhofer ISE)
Triple-junction, non-concentrator solar cell efficiency record — 37.9% (Sharp)
Two-junction, concentrator solar cell efficiency record — 32.6% (IES–UPM)
Two-junction solar cell conversion efficiency record under one sun of illumination — 31.1% (NREL)
Single-junction, concentrator solar cell efficiency record — 29.1% (FhG–ISE)
Single-junction, GaAs, thin-film crystal solar cell efficiency record — 28.8% (Alta Devices)
Crystalline silicon solar cell efficiency record — 25.6% (Panasonic)
Amorphous and monocrystalline silicon solar cell efficiency record — 21.4% (EPFL Institute of Microengineering)
P-type mono-crystalline silicon solar cell efficiency record — 21.4% (Trina Solar)
Thin-film solar cell efficiency record (CdTe) — 21% (First Solar)
CIS thin-film solar cell efficiency record — 20.9% (Solar Frontier)
CIGS thin-film solar cell efficiency record — 20.8% (Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg — ZSW)
P-type multi-crystalline silicon solar cell efficiency record — 20.5% (Trina Solar)
Black silicon solar cell efficiency record — 18.7% (Fraunhofer ISE & Aalto University)
CZTS solar cell efficiency record — 12.6% (Solar Frontier, IBM, & TOK)
Single-junction microcrystalline silicon solar cell efficiency record — 10.7% (EPFL Institute of Microengineering)
Plasmonic polymer solar cell efficiency record — 8.92% (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology)
Graphene solar cell efficiency record — 8.6% (University of Florida)

Solar Module Efficiency Records

Overall solar PV module efficiency record (also the CPV module efficiency record) — 36.7% (Fraunhofer ISE)
Outdoor solar PV (and CPV) module efficiency record — 34.9% (Amonix)
Commercial CPV module efficiency record — 31.8% (Soitec)
Commercial solar module efficiency record — 21.5% (SunPower)
Leading solar modules in solar module yield field tests — SunPower SPR-327NE-WHT-D modules
Thin-film solar module aperture efficiency record — 17.4% (Q-Cells)
Cadmium-telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic (PV) module conversion efficiency record — 16.1% (First Solar)
CIGS thin-film solar module efficiency record — 15.7% (Samsung)
Flexible PV solar module efficiency record — 15.5% (MiaSolé )
Monolithically integrated, commercially available CIGS module efficiency record — 13.4% (Stion) (also holds the 14.8% aperture efficiency record for such modules) and 13.4% (SoloPower)

Largest Solar Power Plants

Largest “collection” of solar power plants: 600 MW — Gujarat Solar Park
Largest solar power plant under construction: 579 MW — Antelope Valley Solar Project
Largest solar PV power plant completed: 550 MW — Topaz Solar Farm

CSP

Largest concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) plant under construction: 392 MW — Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System
Largest single-unit CSP plant completed: 100 MW — Shams 1

CPV

Largest concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) solar power plant: 37 MW — Alamosa Solar Generating Project

Solar Market Leaders

Global

Solar Power (MW) Per Million People (End of 2012): 398.63 — Germany
New Solar Power (MW) Per Million People In 2012: 108.98 — Bulgaria
Solar Power (MW) Per $1 Billion GDP (End of 2012): 17.8 — Bulgaria
New Solar Power (MW) Per $1 Billion GDP In 2012: 15.03 — Bulgaria
Solar Peak Power Output Record: 22.68 GW — Germany
Single-Year Solar Power Installation Record: 7.6 GW — Germany

Solar Power (W) Per Capita (End of 2012): 166.9 — Arizona
New Solar Power (W) Per Capita In 2012: 108.39 — Arizona

Module Manufacturers & Developers

#1 solar module manufacturer (2012) — Yingli Green Energy
#1 utility-scale solar developer in world — First Solar
#1 EPC solar contractor in the world — First Solar

Solar Vehicles

1st solar-powered airplane to cross the US: Solar Impulse
1st solar-powered airplane to fly for 24 hours nonstop: Solar Impulse
1st solar-powered airplane to fly for 48 hours nonstop: Solar Impulse
Solar-powered aviation world distance record on a single flight: 832 NM/ 1’541 km — Solar Impulse

The Laboratory for Photovoltaics at the University of Luxembourg has recently devised a new method to observe the causes of and prevent solar cell degradation before solar cell production is even finished. This will have huge effects on the solar cell manufacturing industry because of how fast chemical damage to solar cells can happen, and the large costs such damage incurs.

Solar panels convert the sun’s light into electrical current through the use of solar cells, which are the generators responsible for the energy solar panels produce. A specific type of solar cells, thin film solar cells, possess a special coating that is what actually absorbs the sun’s energy — this film can be easily degraded during the solar panel production process though.

“A thin film solar cell is a stack of several layers. The main one is the layer that absorbs the light and transforms it into electricity. If these absorbers are not processed immediately they lose part of their ability to convert light energy,” says researcher David Regesch of the Laboratory for Photovoltaics, Physics Research Unit at the University of Luxembourg.

thin film solar cells

CIGS Solar Cell Efficiency Record Set — 20.8%

Solar Energy & Solar Power Facts