Guelph, Ontario: Canadian Solar Inc. announced September 17 that it had set a world record of 22.80% conversion efficiency for p-type large area multi-crystalline silicon solar cell.
The record-setting P5 (casted mono) cell conversion efficiency was tested and certified by Germany's Institute fur Solarenergieforschung GmbH (ISFH) in September 2019. It surpasses the previous multi-crystalline cell efficiency world record of 22.28%, which was also set by Canadian Solar in April 2019.
Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar said, "I am very pleased to announce that we broke the world record yet again. This is a milestone for our P5 technology development. It proves that our multi-crystalline silicon technology can achieve efficiencies very close to mono while still enjoying the cost advantage of multi. We remain focused on expanding our technology pipeline to provide our customers with the most LCOE-competitive products."
The 22.80% record efficiency multi-crystalline cell was fabricated utilizing 157mmx157mm (area 246.66cm2) P5 silicon wafers and production-ready technologies such as MCCE (Metal Catalyzed Chemical Etch) black-silicon texturing, selective emitter, multi-layer anti-reflection coating, advanced surface passivation, and optimized grid design and metallization. Notably, the MCCE black-silicon texturing technology, originally developed and mass-produced by Canadian Solar, was used to further improve cell performance.