Cyrium Technologies has announced that multi-junction solar cells produced by the company now exceed the performance of all commercially manufactured solar cells.
"Cyrium is pleased to set new performance standards for the solar cell suppliers to the Concentrator PhotoVoltaic (CPV) industry," said Dr. Simon Fafard, founder and CTO of Cyrium Technologies.
"We believe the exceptional performance of our 10mm square cell will enhance CPV's business case and is a key to moving the cost of renewable solar energy toward grid parity."
Cyrium's first generation solar cells offer efficiencies of 40 per cent or higher together with a nearly constant conversion efficiency for solar concentrations from 200 to greater than 1000 suns.
This performance sets a new standard for the solar cells' intended use in the Concentrator PhotoVoltaic (CPV) industry. The CPV industry uses lenses and mirrors to concentrate the sun's energy by 500 to 1000 times, allowing a relatively small area of solar cells to generate megawatts of electricity.
Fafard added, "The most outstanding feature of Cyrium's approach is an optimized design for multi-junction cells that does not add complexity or cost. These super-efficient cells employ Cyrium's unique quantum dot technology to modify the internal structure of the semiconductor material creating improved efficiencies over conventional multi-junction or other manufacturing techniques."
Cyrium anticipates its second generation product will reach 43 per cent efficiency within one year and third generation products are targeted to be at 45 per cent within two years. The company is proceeding with small volume manufacturing and qualification of its current generation of solar cell products.
Cyrium's solar cells are now available to qualified CPV clients for evaluation.
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