Led by Heerlen, Netherlands-based Solland Solar, a Dutch consortium that also includes Sunergy, Levitech and the Energy Research Centre Of The Netherlands (ECN) has begun a joint three-year project to develop high-efficiency back-contact solar cells based on the emitter wrap-through (EWT) cell concept.
The project is funded through the EOS-KTO program of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The EWT concept was pioneered by ECN and is a natural evolution from the Sunweb metal wrap-through cell that is currently marketed by Solland, the company says.
Sunergy is providing directly cast crystalline silicon substrates, which are expected to be of significantly lower cost than traditional wafers made by slicing from an ingot. Levitech is in the process of completing the development of a high-throughput (2,400 wafers/hour) system for the deposition of Al2O3 films. The overall objective is to develop cells with an efficiency of 20%.
‘The objectives of this project are consistent with the most recent technology roadmap of German solar cell manufacturers to reach the parallel targets of both increasing efficiency and strongly reducing wafer thickness,’ states Dr. Martin Fleuster, director of research and development at Solland. ‘This roadmap requires a strong improvement in the quality of surface passivation. The roadmap also predicts that by 2020, more than half of c-Si cells will have rear contacts only.’
SOURCE: Solland Solar
