JA Solar multi-Si solar cells achieve 20 percent conversion efficiency

SHANGHAI, CHINA: JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd announced that it achieved 20 percent solar energy conversion efficiency in its multi-crystalline silicon solar cell.

By using advanced proprietary light trapping and surface passivation technologies, the JA Solar research team attained this absolute 1 percent increase in conversion efficiency only nine months after announcing the realization of 19 percent efficiency in its multi-Si cells.

Yong Liu, COO of JA Solar, commented: "JA Solar set a new world record for multi-Si cell efficiency by breaking the 20 percent barrier. This accomplishment once again demonstrates JA Solar's unrivaled ability to advance PV technology, and creates value for our customers by increasing power generation and reducing installation costs."

Dr. Wei Shan, chief scientist and general R&D manager, said: "Consecutive record-breaking results by our multi-Si solar cells are a great achievement for our R&D team. But, we have only just begun. The confidence we had in surpassing 20 percent efficiency this year extends now to our expectation to realize even more efficiency gains in the quarters ahead. Furthermore, with these new high performance cells as a foundation, we anticipate setting new performance records at the module level in the near future."

JA Solar intends to mass produce multi-Si cells using its new technology and integrate its new high-efficiency multi-Si cells into commercial module assemblies in 2015.