A new record performance has been achieved by the Tandem solar cell at 3Sun, Enel Green Power’s photovoltaic panel factory in Catania, Italy. The researchers achieved a conversion efficiency of 26.5 percent in the lab, significantly surpassing the previous record (25.8 percent) set in December 2022 by a cell of the same type.
The cell that broke this record, with an active surface of 9 square centimeters, was developed by our specialists in collaboration with researchers from the CEA team at INES (Institut National de l’Energie Solaire). It is a Tandem cell, composed of two superimposed cells: one is a silicon heterojunction (HJT), industrially produced by 3Sun, while the other is composed of another material, perovskite.
Key role of the Tandem cell
This combination overcomes the limitations of traditional cells: silicon cells only use radiation from the red light spectrum, while perovskite cells use blue radiation. The Tandem cell, which combines the two types, thus improves their efficiency.
With Tandem technology, the situation is changing, and so is the future of 3Sun. Its factory, thanks to the TANGO project (iTaliAN pv Giga factOry) and 118 million euros from the European Innovation Fund for large-scale projects, will produce solar panels with a total capacity of 3 GW per year, thus becoming a Gigafactory, the largest factory in Europe for the production of high-performance photovoltaic modules. This increase in quantity will be accompanied by an improvement in quality: from 2026 onwards, 3Sun is aiming for efficiency values of around 30 percent with the Tandem cells.
