06.10.22
Sharp Corporation reports it has achieved a conversion efficiency of 32.65%, the world’s highest, in a lightweight, flexible, practically sized solar module developed as part of the “Research and Development of Solar Cells for Use in Vehicles” project, which is administered by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan.
The conversion efficiency was confirmed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.
The module’s conversion efficiency bests that of a similar Sharp module developed under another NEDO project in 2016, which notched an efficiency of 31.17%, at the time a world record. The new prototype solar module, which uses a triple-junction compound design, is both lightweight and flexible thanks to its structure, which sandwiches the solar cell between layers of film.
As a result, the module is expected to be used in a variety of vehicles, an application that demands high efficiency and lightweight construction.
Sharp will continue to conduct R&D into more efficient, lower-cost solar modules with a view to their use in applications including electric vehicles (EVs) and aerospace. The design, which embodies one path towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
Efforts to introduce electrified vehicles as a way to lower CO2 emissions and address air pollution are accelerating in the transportation industry, which relies on fossil fuels to meet most of its energy demands.
The prospect of supplying power derived from renewable energy is attracting high expectations as an approach with the potential to maximize the effectiveness of those vehicles. In addition, power derived from renewable energy can be supplied directly by equipping EVs with solar cells, promising to make them more convenient for users, for example by lowering fuel costs and reducing the number of times they require charging.
Against this backdrop, Sharp has been developing high-efficiency, low-cost solar modules that can conform to the curved surfaces of vehicles for use in a broad range of vehicles, including in standard EV and aerospace applications, by 2050. This time, Sharp succeeded in developing a lightweight, flexible solar module with a conversion efficiency of 32.65%, the world’s highest.
The conversion efficiency was confirmed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.
The module’s conversion efficiency bests that of a similar Sharp module developed under another NEDO project in 2016, which notched an efficiency of 31.17%, at the time a world record. The new prototype solar module, which uses a triple-junction compound design, is both lightweight and flexible thanks to its structure, which sandwiches the solar cell between layers of film.
As a result, the module is expected to be used in a variety of vehicles, an application that demands high efficiency and lightweight construction.
Sharp will continue to conduct R&D into more efficient, lower-cost solar modules with a view to their use in applications including electric vehicles (EVs) and aerospace. The design, which embodies one path towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
Efforts to introduce electrified vehicles as a way to lower CO2 emissions and address air pollution are accelerating in the transportation industry, which relies on fossil fuels to meet most of its energy demands.
The prospect of supplying power derived from renewable energy is attracting high expectations as an approach with the potential to maximize the effectiveness of those vehicles. In addition, power derived from renewable energy can be supplied directly by equipping EVs with solar cells, promising to make them more convenient for users, for example by lowering fuel costs and reducing the number of times they require charging.
Against this backdrop, Sharp has been developing high-efficiency, low-cost solar modules that can conform to the curved surfaces of vehicles for use in a broad range of vehicles, including in standard EV and aerospace applications, by 2050. This time, Sharp succeeded in developing a lightweight, flexible solar module with a conversion efficiency of 32.65%, the world’s highest.