Semprius’ 35.5 Percent Efficiency Sets New Record for Commercially Available Solar Modules

Semprius, Inc. has set a new record for mass-produced photovoltaic module efficiency, reaching 35.5% at Concentrator Standard Test Conditions (CSTC), as confirmed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Germany. This efficiency result significantly exceeds Semprius’ previous record of 33.9%, announced in January 2012.

The record module was produced on the production line at Semprius’ new manufacturing facility, located in Henderson, NC. The module incorporates standard production techniques and materials, including state-of-the-art epitaxial wafers provided by Solar Junction, an important Semprius partner. At over 35%, Semprius modules are the highest efficiency of any commercially available product in the PV industry – two to three times more efficient than conventional photovoltaic modules and significantly higher than other commercially available HCPV modules.

“We are particularly pleased that we were able to produce this new record on our pilot production line just months after opening the facility,” said Joe Carr, CEO at Semprius. “This is a testament not only to our R&D and manufacturing teams, but also to our production process which is robust and scalable. We are now focused on continuing to ramp up production capacities to deliver increasing volumes of these high-performance, high-efficiency modules globally.”

In addition to producing a 35.5 percent commercial module on its production line, Semprius also recently built an R&D demonstration module that achieved an efficiency of 37.1 percent at CSTC.

“Our R&D team continues to raise the bar for solar module efficiency as it executes against our product roadmap,” said Scott Burroughs, vice president of technology at Semprius. “We have an extensive program of efficiency improvements and cost reductions over the next several years that will allow us to continue to improve performance and drive down the cost of solar energy.”

Over the past 18 months, Semprius has deployed its modules with strategic customers in eight countries around the world.