AMPERE's first HJT solar cell

On February 26th 2019, the new production lines of Enel Green Power (EGP) 3SUN factory in Catania processed the first HJT cells with a complete cycle: the first goal of transforming wafers into photovoltaic cells with heterojunction technology was reached up! The AMPERE project maintains its established objectives.
Starting from high quality silicon wafers, the new generation equipment, just installed at the EGP site in Catania, processed the substrates with the aim of depositing nanometric layers of amorphous silicon and transparent conductive oxides. Furthermore, the cells obtained have excellent reliability characteristics and maintain their efficiency even at high temperatures, as verified after specific aging tests.
The cells produced have an inherent bifacial architecture, thus allowing a greater energy production, with the same irradiation, compared to the production mainstream.
The maximum efficiency measured was 22.2% on the first run, with an average of 22%.
The final objective of the AMPERE project is a cell efficiency of over 23% with a module power up to 400Wp in a 72 bifacial cell configuration. The initial production set in the 100 MWp per year from the project was already expanded by EGP with a 200 MWp / year implementation program in 2019.
One of the aims of the AMPERE project is to pave the way for a change in the metrics of the photovoltaic market by shifting the focus from the cost of selling the module per kW of peak power to the cost of electricity production (LCOE). The EGP production plant in Catania will serve to demonstrate the validity of this new model, acting as a platform to assess the feasibility of implementing the 1 GW factory in Europe.
At this time the Catania production plant operates with limited automation. In the coming weeks, the project team will work on improving the cell's production process, until reaching the pre-set performance targets.