The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory announced a new high of 31.1 percent conversion efficiency for a two-junction solar cell under one sun of illumination, which beats the previous record of 30.8 percent efficiency from Alta Devices, and is part of a program focused on lowering the cost of solar power.
NREL made the announcement last week at the 39th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference in Tampa, Fla. The work was done at NREL as part of the DOE’s Foundation Program to Advance Cell Efficiency (F-PACE), a project that aims to lower the cost of solar energy to a point at which it is competitive with other sources including fossil fuels.
Read more at Energy Manager Today.