The solar market is calling for high-performance modules, Meyer Burger is responding with heterojunction
At the start of 2016, high-performance, one-hundred-percent Meyer Burger modules will be generating solar energy on the roof of the Migros Aare cooperative. The trend-setting modules making up this solar power plant combine the most innovative cell technology with the state-of-the-art cell connection technology and show which technologies will hold sway in the solar industry of the future.
The Migros Aare cooperative wants to make a contribution to the energy revolution as well as to their autonomous energy supply. The requirements of the innovation project for the solar modules to be installed on the roof of the Migros operations center in Schönbühl (Canton of Berne), Switzerland, were extremely demanding. In Switzerland, only the Meyer Burger modules were able to satisfy these exacting requirements. Since the efficiency of conventional solar cells is bordering on its limits, Meyer Burger has put its faith in the innovative heterojunction technology – and rightly so, as evidenced by the market.
Heterojunction cells are a hybrid form of the two successful silicon solar cells, the crystalline and amorphous silicon solar cells. The combination of these two solar cell types enables an efficiency of well over 21 per cent to be achieved. The unparalleled efficiency of heterojunction technology is based on the utilization of the advantages of the two cell types combined in this solar cell. Up to now, monocrystalline solar cells have been the most efficient solar cells due to their regular crystal structure. Their already high, albeit limited efficiency is again substantially increased through the heterojunction technology thanks to the high temperature resistance and excellent low light behavior of the amorphous solar cells.
In addition to the heterojunction technology, the modules currently being installed on the roof of the Migros Aare cooperative owe their outstanding efficiency to the use of two other trend-setting technologies. Thanks to the SmartWire cell connection technology, the solar modules have a dense contact matrix and their bifacial design enables them to generate electricity on the rear as well as the front. Together, these changes result in a substantial increase in performance compared to conventional solar modules.
Apart from the outstanding performance, the Meyer Burger high performance modules had a further convincing argument for the Migros Aare cooperative. All work steps along the entire value chain were carried out within Meyer Burger.
As well as the pioneering project on behalf of the Migros Aare cooperative, Meyer Burger was able to realize another heterojunction project this year. In September 2015, the south facade of the CSEM research center in Neuchatel was clad with heterojunction modules. Meyer Burger’s customers are also gearing up for the solar future with heterojunction. A number of them have already successfully commissioned a Meyer Burger production line for heterojunction cells.
Meyer Burger successfully supplies the Swiss market with cost-effective solar systems for building integration as well as with innovative hybrid solutions for building services engineering. Its advanced and highly efficient technologies, such as Heterojunction and SmartWire, are being incorporated as flat roof modules in its tried and tested product range and will be available for Swiss customers by mid-2016.
For further information:
Werner Buchholz
Corporate Communications
Tel: +41 33 221 25 06
werner.buchholz@meyerburger.com
Sales Energy Systems, Switzerland:
Roman Gysel
Head of Sales
Tel: +41 33 221 23 12
roman.gysel@meyerburger.com
About Meyer Burger Technology Ltd
www.meyerburger.com
Meyer Burger is a leading global technology company specialising on innovative systems and processes based on semiconductor technologies. The company’s focus is on photovoltaics (solar industry) while its competencies and technologies also cover important areas of the semiconductor and the optoelectronic industries as well as other selected high-end markets based on semiconductor materials. The company currently employs about 1,600 people across three continents. Over the past ten years, Meyer Burger has risen to the forefront of the photovoltaic market and established itself as an international premium brand by offering superior precision products and innovative technologies.
Meyer Burger’s offering in systems, production equipment and services along the photovoltaic value chain includes the manufacturing processes for wafers, solar cells, solar modules and solar systems. Meyer Burger provides substantial added value to its customers and clearly differentiates itself from its competitors by focusing on the entire value chain.
The company’s comprehensive product portfolio is complemented by a worldwide service network with spare parts, consumables, process know-how, customer support, after-sales services, training and other services. Meyer Burger is represented in Europe, Asia and North America in the respective key markets and has subsidiaries and own service centres in China, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, Taiwan and the USA. The company is also working intensively to develop new markets such as South America, Africa and the Arab region. The registered shares of Meyer Burger Technology Ltd are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (Ticker: MBTN).
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