Progress in Research and Mass Production of Large-Scale Tandem Thin Film Si Solar Modules at Chint Solar
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Progress in Research and Mass Production of Large-Scale Tandem Thin Film Si Solar Modules at Chint Solar X. Niu1, C. Yu1, M. Wang1, G. Li1, X. Zhu1, B. Cheng1, Z. Chen1, G. Wang1, C. Zhou1, S. Liu1 H. Deng1, J. Xiao1, K. Fung1 and L. Yang1 1
Chint Solar (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., 1335 Binan Lu, Binjiang District Hangzhou 310053, China ABSTRACT Over the past decade, the PV industry has witnessed tremendous growth in manufacturing scale and technology advancement, with PV generated electricity cost ever approaching grid parity. Among them, Si based thin film technology has made substantial progress in demonstrating its inherent advantages in lower material cost, ease of manufacturing and higher energy yield, etc. More recently, reduced product prices and competing technologies from crystalline silicon and other thin film technologies have made amorphous and microcrystalline silicon based thin film technology very challenging, and requires further increase in module efficiency and decrease in manufacturing cost. As one of the few companies in the world with significant manufacturing capacity for tandem thin film Si PV products, Chint Solar (Astronergy) has been at the forefront of technology development for the mass production of large-scale (Gen. 5, 1.43m2) Si thin film solar modules in the last 5 years. We will review major technology advancements which have been mass production proven and led to the mass produced tandem silicon thin film module with 10.0% plus stabilized efficiency, along with the field performance of those modules. INTRODUCTION Si based thin film solar technology, particularly a-Si:H/uc-Si:H tandem technology, has made substantial progress with >10% total area module efficiency in the past several years and demonstrated its inherent advantages in lower material cost, ease of manufacturing, higher energy yield and long-term reliability. Several turn-key line suppliers offer 10% plus module efficiency and greatly reduced cost of ownership (COO) such as Oerlikon’s “Thin Fab”. Recent market condition and rapidly decreasing product prices and improved module efficiency from crystalline silicon based technology have imposed further challenges on amorphous and microcrystalline silicon based thin film technology. To make amorphous silicon thin film solar commercially competitive, it requires accelerated pace of technology advancement in improving module efficiency and decreasing manufacturing cost. This paper highlights the technology advancement at Chint Solar on a-Si:H/uc-Si:H tandem solar modules which had been proven in mass production and is separated into 5 parts: 1) effective light trapping; 2) optimization of top cell p/ZnO contact; 3) reducing the light induced degradation by incorporation of oxide based p-layer; 4) controlling of current leakage at bottom cell by introducing novel microcrystalline doped oxide p-layer; 5) pilot run results and field performance of the modules. For effective light trapping, focus at Chint Solar had been on the further extension of the unique capability of the low pressu
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