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Solar Energy Efficiency

Gail Said:

What is the efficiency of solar energy?

We Answered:

Photovoltaic panels range in efficiency from 12% (FirstSolar Cadmium Telluride) up to ~20% (monosilicon panels).

World record lab panel efficiencies by technology are here:
http://www.solarnavigator.net/images/pv_…


The maximum theoretical efficiency for a photovoltaic cell is about 33%, and it depends on the band gap of the material used. The peak efficiency occurs around 1.4eV band gap - CdTe is about 1.45eV and Silicon is about 1.12eV.

Source: Jenny Nelson, The Physics of Solar Cells.



Higher world record efficiencies have been obtained, but they rely on multiple junctions back to back. They need more layers of material and haven't made it to commercial reality yet.

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