Why Solar? | Solar Farms & Photovoltaic Project Development in Ontario, Canada!!

Solar cell efficiency hits 40% (in the lab)

by William Papolis, Friday Dec 08, 2006 6:38PM EST

Spectrolab Inc. has demo'ed working photovolatics at 40.7% efficiency. However there are some gotcha's ...

It has been demonstrated in the lab ONLY, so far
The solar cells require some sort of CONCENTRATOR to focus more light into a small area to deliver the efficiency claimed
Manufactured cells are at least a year away. More realistically we wouldn't see such cells for at least a few years, efficiency will likely be lower (35% - 40%?) and this technology won't be cheap. ("Astro-nomical" in price!)
Looking even further in the future they claim they see the possibility of upping efficiency even higher, (perhaps 45%?), but again, they need more time, and the final product will cost even more!)

Long term, this solar cell technology is looking good, but in the mean time it's still best to consider existing technologies (like Mono & Multi-Crystalline silicon cells) for developments we can all use, at affordable prices! Remember, it's about the "Cost per watt". Current lowest price today = $4.50/watt