New Record For Solar Cell Power Efficiency

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday July 31, 2007 @09:14PM from the onward-to-50% dept.

mdsolar writes "Renewable Energy Access is reporting that a consortium led by researchers at the University of Delaware has achieved 42.8% efficiency with a silicon solar cell. The method uses lower concentration (factor of 20 magnification) than the previous record holder (40.7% efficiency) so that it may have a broader range of applications, since tolerances for pointing the device will be larger. They are now partnering with DuPont to build engineering and manufacturing prototypes. They expect to be in production in 2010. On a roof, such cells would require less than half the surface area to produce the same amount of power as today's standard solar panels, which have an efficiency of about 17%."

1 of 351 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Efficiency is less important... by Anonymous Coward · 2007-07-31 21:46 · Score: 5, Insightful

...than price per watt. We got plenty of space we can cover with solar cells so it's not important that they are extremely efficient, just cheap enough so it doesn't cost much to cover large areas.