Spectrolab solar cell breaks 40% efficiency barrier

The solar subsidiary of Boeing, Spectrolab, has achieved a new world record in solar cell efficiency.

Using concentrated sunlight, Spectrolab showed it was now able to use a photovoltaic cell to convert 40.7 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., verified the milestone.

The best conventional non-concentrating photovoltaic solar cells, from companies like SunPower, have efficiencies in the 20% range.

"This solar cell performance is the highest efficiency level any photovoltaic device has ever achieved," said Dr. David Lillington, president of Spectrolab. "The terrestrial cell we have developed uses the same technology base as our space-based cells. So, once qualified, they can be manufactured in very high volumes with minimal impact to production flow."

High efficiency multijunction cells have a significant advantage over conventional silicon cells in concentrator systems because fewer solar cells are required to achieve the same power output.

"These results are particularly encouraging since they were achieved using a new class of metamorphic semiconductor materials, allowing much greater freedom in multijunction cell design for optimal conversion of the solar spectrum," said Dr. Richard R. King, principal investigator of the high efficiency solar cell research and development effort. "The excellent performance of these materials hints at still higher efficiency in future solar cells."

Spectrolab's business is providing solar cells for manufacturers of concentrating systems. It currently provides cells to several domestic and international solar concentrator manufacturers.

Currently, Spectrolab’s terrestrial concentrator cells are generating power in a 33-kilowatt full-scale concentrator system in the Australian desert. The company recently signed multi-million dollar contracts and is anticipating several new contracts in the next few months.

Development of the high-efficiency concentrator cell technology was funded by the NREL’s High Performance Photovoltaics program and Spectrolab.

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