Meyer Burger, CSEM to develop new PV cells, modules

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From pv magazine Germany

Meyer Burger Technology and the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) have extended their seven-year collaborative partnership by another three years.

They jointly develop new types of solar cells and modules. Their focus is on bringing new PV technologies to industrial mass production. Meyer Burger said it plans to  achieve average manufacturing efficiencies at module level of more than 24%, in addition to a corresponding reduction of production costs.

CSEM researchers have supported Meyer Burger in the development of its heterojunction/SmartWire technology. The company cited a recently achieved milestone as an example – in the summer, Fraunhofer ISE certified an efficiency of 25.4% for solar cells on industrial-standard wafers it makes at its own research center in Neuchatel, in cooperation with CSEM. The cell process they developed for this purpose uses back contacts to convert additional sunlight into electricity.

Meyer Burger plans to produce 400 MW of heterojunction solar cells per year in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany. It will also make PV modules at its second German factory in Freiberg, with an initial production capacity of 400 MW per year. It will expand annual output at the Freiberg facility to 5 GW by 2026. Both the Bitterfeld-Wolfen and Freiberg factories are scheduled to start operations in the first half of 2021.

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