On January 31st, 2012 Semprius Inc. (Durham, North Carolina, U.S.) announced that it has reached a new world record of 33.9% active area solar photovoltaic (PV) module efficiency using its concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) modules. The company notes that this efficiency well exceeds the previous record of 32.0%.

The Technical University of Madrid's Institute of Solar Energy (Madrid, Spain) tested the module indoors under standard test conditions at 850 watts/m2 and 25 degrees Celsius cell temperature. The measurement was confirmed by outdoor tests performed by the Institute of Concentrating Photovoltaic Systems (Puertollano, Spain).

"This is the culmination of our emphasis on bringing smart design to solar," said Semprius CEO Joe Carr. "We looked carefully at each component of our module – cell, optics, enclosure and the manufacturing process – to develop a competitive solution that embodies high efficiency, performance and reliability."

"Important to our customers is the fact that the module chosen for this third-party evaluation is part of the normal production distribution that will be commercially available later this year."


Siemens to commercialize Semprius technology

Semprius notes that its CPV design begins with a proprietary micro-transfer printing process, which enables the fabrication of very small PV cells.

U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, Golden, Colorado, U.S.) assisted Semprius in the development of its CPV module. Siemens Energy (Erlangen, Germany) has plans to work with Semprius to commercialize the technology, after investing in Semprius as a strategic partner in June 2011.

The company is currently ramping up deployment of demonstration systems while completing the construction of a pilot plant in the U.S. state of North Carolina, and it expects to begin commercial production at this plant during the second half of 2012.
 

2012-01-31| Courtesy: Semprius | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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