Under a research and development contract with Trina Solar, through a collaboration contract with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), the laboratory scale Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) cell was developed at the Australian National University Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems.
The ANU has developed, with contribution from Australian consulting firm PV Lighthouse, an IBC silicon solar cell, which has the ability to deliver an efficiency of 24.4%, after two years of research, funded by Trina Solar.
Trina Solar said that the commercial cell has already reached an efficiency of greater than 22% for a 125mm by 125mm IBC solar cell, and 238W for an IBC PV module, which has been tested by the National Center of Supervision and Inspection on Solar Photovoltaic Products Quality of China.
Currently, Trina Solar is developing a commercial version of the IBC solar cell as well as an IBC PV module.
Trina Solar vice president and chief scientist Pierre Verlinden said, "We are delighted to collaborate with leading scientists at ANU on this exciting new development in our cell technologies."
