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A team of researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Research ISE and NWO-Institute AMOLF (Amsterdam) have fabricated a multijunction solar cell with an efficiency of 36.1 percent, the highest efficiency ever reached for a solar cell based on silicon. The team presented the new record at the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (EU PVSEC) in Lisbon on Thursday, September 21, 2023. The research project was funded through the Fraunhofer ICON program.

Perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells achieve efficiencies of over 30 percent and are frontrunners for the next generation of solar cells. A research team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has now been able to demonstrate that triple-junction solar cells consisting of perovskite-perovskite-silicon subcells also hold considerable promise and have an even greater efficiency potential than double-junction tandem cells. As part of the Triumph research project funded by the European Commission and the RIESEN research project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, the team developed a triple-junction solar cell with an open-circuit voltage of over 2.8 volts. This record figure confirms that the cell has excellent material properties for generating electricity, leading the scientists to deduce that it has an efficient solar cell architecture.

Green hydrogen and its derivatives – ammonia, methanol, and synthetic kerosene – store energy from the sun and wind in order to transfer it efficiently from distant regions to Europe. At the same time, many industries that cannot use electricity directly as an energy source will be dependent on these climate-neutral alternatives to fossil gas and oil in the future. On behalf of the H2Global Foundation, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has examined 39 regions in 12 countries preselected by H2Global to determine where the production of such Power-to-X (PtX) products, in conjunction with transport to Germany, would be most cost-effective by 2030. The result: Brazil, Colombia, and Australia offer particularly good conditions for the import of green ammonia, methanol, and kerosene. Imports of gaseous green hydrogen could come from southern Europe or North Africa, provided that pipelines are available in time for transport.

HoloSolis SAS, a company founded in 2022 by EIT InnoEnergy, IDEC GROUP and TSE, plans to build a production line for both PV solar cells and modules. The new company will be located close to the French-German border in the district of Sarreguemines. The factory aims to start production in 2025 and, at full capacity, will have a production capacity of five gigawatts per year. Based on a strategic collaboration agreement signed this summer, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE will support HoloSolis in the technology selection and factory planning during the conceptual design and construction phases.

In recent years, some car manufacturers have already presented the first vehicle models with photovoltaics integrated into the roof. The roof is the easiest surface to use for on-board solar power generation. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have now gone one step further. As part of two publicly funded research projects, they have integrated solar cells into the standard sheet metal hood of a regular passenger car. Coupled with the research institute’s MorphoColor® technology, the solar-active surface can be color-matched to that of the vehicle. Visitors to IAA MOBILITY can have a closer look at the photovoltaic hood from September 5-11, 2023, at the Fraunhofer booth (Hall B1.D11) in Munich.