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SunPower Sets Solar Cell Efficiency Record at 24.2%

June 24, 2010 | 8 Comments

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California, United States -- SunPower Corp. has produced a full-scale solar cell with a sunlight to electricity conversion efficiency of 24.2 percent at its manufacturing plant in the Philippines. This is a new world record for large area silicon wafers, and has been confirmed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL).

"This new world record demonstrates SunPower's ability to extend our lead in manufacturing the world's highest efficiency solar cells," said Bill Mulligan, vice president of technology and development for SunPower. "Our patented and proprietary, high-efficiency solar cell technology drives down the cost of solar energy by increasing the energy production from each solar panel."

Improved cell efficiency reduces the levelized cost of energy by increasing the energy production from each wafer manufactured into a SunPower solar cell. For the same reason, increased efficiency reduces the cost per watt and cost per kilowatt-hour for feedstock and materials, depreciation and other manufacturing expenses, installation time, land and system operations, and related maintenance.

SunPower also announced that has reached a deal with French retailer Casino Group for the supply of 20 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic panels for solar power installations on Casino Group properties in mainland France. The agreement, which builds on a similar 15-MW agreement between the two companies last year, will enable Casino Group to turn under-utilized roof space and parking area into power plants to produce renewable electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

"We are delighted to partner with Casino to further expand their use of solar power in France, increasing their total commitment to more than 35 megawatts. We are confident that, with SunPower's proven performance and reliability, Casino and GreenYellow will continue to achieve considerable return on investment over the 25-to-30-year lifetime of the solar panels," said Howard Wenger, president, utility and power plants, for SunPower.

SunPower will supply Casino with its SunPower E19 Series solar panels. The combined 35 megawatt agreement will result in solar power systems at 18 of the company's properties, on rooftops and parking lots. Casino Group includes 11,000 stores in 9 countries making it one of the largest French retail networks, and consists of more than 20 different brands of stores.

Solar Energy

8 Reader Comments

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1 of 8

pfiddle

June 25, 2010

Must do better boys.

Signed the Headmaster.

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brad-marluke-134778

June 25, 2010

24.2% is an achievement for sure. One that needs to be recognized and then its back to the grind stone. Some day soon, solar will be like a refrigerator or a washer and dryer. We only need 6% of all the roofs in the US to power our current needs and that's before energy efficiency. Buy stock now. For you are looking at the next Microsoft.

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jim-stack-36988

June 25, 2010

SPWR is the leader and has been for a few years. We don't really need higher efficiency cells and panels, what we need is to stop subsidizing fossil fuels. The USA has been helping coal, nuclear and natural gas for over 30 years. A simple carbon tax and stop subsidizing will make it clear what the best susstainable energy is. We have made more progress in solar in the last 5 years. Solar, Wind and GEO-thermo are the answer and get lower in cost each day.

My FSLR First Solar returned 635% last year. They now make solar for less than 65 cents a watt ! I think the best solar stock is all American ESLR Evergreen solar that makes the lowest carbon footprint solar panels in the world. Unlike BP solar is all ESLR makes. A real pure play.

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al-simon-174574

July 1, 2010

Its time to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.

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5 of 8

pfiddle

July 3, 2010

Ref; al-simon-174574 comment Time to bring back manufacturing to the US. - Lets not try be too navel-gazing about this. Jobs flee to whichever countries provide the best conditions for the parent companies to make money. That's called capitalism. Get over it.
Far more important is the developers keeping the intellectual rights and so being able to continue developing better products that will benefit all.

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DWagner

July 7, 2010

That is amazing considering the theoretical maximum is 28%
(http://www.solarserver.com/knowledge/basic-knowledge/photovoltaics.html).

While this is an improvement, there has been not been a record for silicon cells since about 1999. It is also topping out at about 25%. For concentrator cells, in the same time have gone from about 32% to 41.6% and are expected to go over 50%. Also concentrators use tracking wich will give you about 30% to 40% more energy over the year. There are already several companies with commercial concentrator systems like
SolFocus (www.SolFocus.com), Amonix (www.Amonix.com). I also think splitting and concentrating the spectrum has good promise (www.Sol-Solution.net).

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Anonymous

July 20, 2010

I wanted to buy a few retail solar panels for my home but it was easy and so much cheaper to build my own. http://bit.ly/cxhqny

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nick-lucchese-147339

July 21, 2010

Sure it was Pinocchio....and Dick Cheney is a humanitarian.

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