Swiss startup's new technology doubles solar cell conversion efficiency

Chip Technology News (Text/Allis), according to Tech Crunch, Swiss startup energy company Insolight has come up with a new way to focus sunlight on batteries, which is twice as efficient as ordinary solar panels. Related products are expected to be available in 2022.

Normally, solar panels use their entire surface to collect sunlight and then convert it into electricity. In this process, about 85% of the energy is wasted, and in the end, sunlight can only be converted into electricity at an efficiency of 15-19%. Although there are other more efficient solar panels, most of them are expensive. However, Insolight has come up with a way to place small, efficient solar cells on the grid and place a honeycomb array lens on top, so that the light can be converted into narrow rays and focused in these small cells. As the sunlight moves, these small cells will move with it to facilitate the refraction of light.

Mathiu Ackerman, the company's chief technology officer, said they combined solar panels with the power grid and continuously monitored them so they would not shut down due to heat waves, storms or cold weather. This technology is very practical on cloudy days with less sunlight, and it can continue to generate energy even when the light is dispersed.

According to Tech Crunch, Insolight recently conducted a pilot test on the roof of the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and achieved excellent results. According to the current test results, this solar panel can convert nearly 37% of energy, and has a conversion rate of 30% in customer-oriented designs, which is nearly twice as efficient as ordinary solar panels.

Insolight is currently negotiating with solar panel manufacturers to convince them to incorporate the technology into their existing production lines. According to Ackermann, it would not be difficult to manufacture such solar panels by simply adding one or two layers of the technology to existing solar panels.