LONGi claims 22.71% PERC efficiency world record

Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE CalLab has confirmed that China’s Longi Green Energy Technology has achieved a record 22.71% conversion efficiency with its monocrystalline passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) solar cells.

The official figures released by the NEA are even more optimistic than those published by the nation’s PV industry body last week.

Image: Longi Solar

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Group unit Longi Solar hailed the new record as its “most important technology R&D achievement” yet. The Chinese company said that it expects to surpass a conversion efficiency of 23.0% at some point in the “near future,” without elaborating.

“This greatly enhances the entire industry’s confidence in P-type monocrystalline cells,” claimed Dr. Li Hua, vice president of cell R&D at Longi Solar.

The company will start producing its 22.0% PERC cells by the end of this year. It expects its module power rating to hit 340 W to 345 W for a 60-cell panel format by some point next year, above the minimum standards set out under the Chinese government’s Top Runner program.

LONGi Solar has steadily ramped up the efficiency of its cells over the past year. In April, it achieved a maximum efficiency of 22.17% in mass production on a 100 MW pilot cell line, as certified by China’s National Center of Supervision and Inspection in Solar PV Product Quality (CPVT). By the end of August, it had ratcheted that up to 22.43%.

At the recent All Energy Australia event, Longi told pv magazine that it is targeting between 70 – 80 MW of sales to the Australian market in 2018. The company, which has been a major driver of monocrystalline technology, said in 2018 it will be shipping mono PERC modules the market with a power output on 305 W, in a 60-cell configuration.

In early September, the company posted a net profit of CNY 1.236 billion ($191.2 million) for the first six months of 2017, up 43.6% year on year. Revenue hit CNY 6.276 billion in the January-June period. It invested more than 7% of its total revenue into R&D in the first half.

LONGi Solar is now working on a 1 GW monocrystalline silicon ingot production facility, as well as a 5 GW monocrystalline silicon ingot project, in China’s Ningxia region. In addition, it expects to reach full production at its factory in Kuching, Malaysia, by the end of this year. That will raise its output to 300 MW of monocrystalline silicon ingots, 1 GW of monocrystalline silicon wafers, 500 MW of monocrystalline solar cells and 500 MW of monocrystalline PV panels.

Group parent Xi’an LONGI Silicon Materials acquired PV module manufacturer Lerri Solar in February and rebranded it as LONGI Solar. The company is now recognized as a Tier One supplier by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Earlier this month, China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) said that the company could beat JinkoSolar this year to become the country’s top PV module supplier, with  2.15 GW of shipments in the first half.

Additional reporting by Jonathan Gifford

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