Tandem

BOE is reportedly preparing to launch large‑scale outdoor field testing of its perovskite PV modules across multiple extreme climate regions in China. According to recent industry reports, the company has commissioned a 200 kW perovskite outdoor demonstration base at its 10.5‑generation TFT‑LCD production park in Hefei, Anhui Province.

The Hefei demonstration facility will host BOE’s rigid, flexible, and tandem perovskite modules alongside reference cadmium telluride (CdTe) and crystalline silicon modules, including back‑contact (BC), TOPCon, and heterojunction (HJT) technologies. The goal is to perform side‑by‑side outdoor validation under real‑world operating conditions, focusing on long‑term stability, energy yield, and degradation behavior.

The Australian National University (ANU) and partners Jinko Solar, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the University of Melbourne have reported progress towards cost‑effective silicon-perovskite tandem modules on passivating‑contact silicon cells, including monolithic tandem efficiencies up to 34.76% on Jinko’s TOPCon platform and 26.61% on 20 cm² devices processed with scalable blade‑coating. 

This work arises from the ARENA‑funded project “Cost‑effective Si/Perovskite Tandem Modules on Passivating Contact Si Cells” (TRAC005 / PRO‑1930), launched in December 2022 and scheduled to run until April 2028, which targets commercial‑ready monolithic silicon‑perovskite tandem (SPT) technology and significant production capacity by the end of the project.”

Researchers from Humboldt University of Berlin (HU) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) have set a new efficiency record of 25.5% for a tandem solar cell combining CIGSe (copper indium gallium selenide) with perovskite. The device, slightly larger than 1 cm², surpasses the team’s previous record of 24.6% achieved last year for the same material system.

The new result has been independently certified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) and has been included in the widely recognized Solar Cell Efficiency Tables, often referred to as the “Green Tables,” which serve as a global benchmark for photovoltaic performance.

Yanhe Technology and Soochow University have signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement to jointly build a research and development laboratory dedicated to perovskite - crystalline silicon tandem solar cells. The new joint lab will serve as a core platform for university-enterprise collaborative innovation, targeting key technical bottlenecks across the full industry chain - from fundamental research through engineering, mass production and end‑use applications.

Under the joint construction plan, the lab will focus specifically on perovskite / crystalline silicon tandem solar cells as a “core track,” aiming to develop original, industry‑leading technologies and products while systematically resolving pain points in R&D, production and application. The cooperation will follow an enterprise‑led, university‑supported and two‑way innovation model. Soochow University will concentrate on basic research and theoretical advances to continuously support Yanhe’s technology upgrades, while Yanhe Technology will drive engineering scaling, pilot verification and process maturation of university results, opening a complete pathway from lab‑scale research to market‑ready applications.

South Korea’s Flexell Space has been selected as the lead organization for a large-scale national R&D project focused on low‑cost, high‑efficiency space perovskite tandem solar modules. 

Image by Flexell Space

The three‑year project, funded with a total budget of around KRW 10.7 billion (about US$7 million), aims to develop next‑generation thin‑film tandem devices and validate their performance and reliability in real space environments.

PV equipment manufacturer Maxwell Technologies has delivered its first commercial perovskite‑silicon heterojunction (HJT) tandem solar cell production line to an undisclosed customer.

According to Maxwell, the new line is designed for 210 mm half‑cut, full‑area perovskite‑HJT tandem cells. It incorporates upgraded precision equipment control, an enhanced manufacturing environment, and improved production stability to support process verification and future capacity ramp‑up.

Chinese perovskite PV company Microquanta has introduced a new series of perovskite-silicon tandem modules at a recent exhibition in Germany, targeting building‑integrated PV (BIPV) façade applications.

The new MQ‑α² products combine Microquanta’s four‑terminal perovskite-silicon tandem architecture with architect‑oriented colored finishes designed for façades. According to the company, the tandem structure is intended to compensate for the efficiency losses that typically occur when solar modules are modified for aesthetic purposes, allowing higher energy yields than conventional decorative BIPV panels.

Hanwha Solutions’ Qcells division has reportedly completed the solar cell production line at its Cartersville factory in Georgia, paving the way for mass production to begin as early as this July. 

Hanwha Qcells' solar production plant in Cumming, Georgia, USA. /Courtesy of Hanwha Solutions, from: www.chosun.com

This milestone finalizes the company’s U.S. “Solar Hub”, a vertically integrated manufacturing base that covers the full value chain from ingots and wafers through cells to finished modules, all produced domestically. Once ramped, the hub is expected to support several gigawatts of annual ingot, wafer and cell output, alongside 8.6 GW of module capacity.

Cornell University researchers have evaluated the environmental and resource-saving potential of integrating perovskite tandem photovoltaics into agrivoltaic (AgV) lettuce production systems across the United States, revealing a pathway toward “net-negative” agricultural emissions under favorable conditions.

The team conducted a comprehensive “farm-to-fork” life-cycle assessment that links photovoltaic performance with agricultural production, water use, and supply-chain impacts. The analysis covers perovskite-silicon (P-S) and all-perovskite (P-P) tandem technologies, benchmarked against conventional silicon PV, and incorporates region-specific data on irrigation, yields, transport, and food waste. It also accounts for circular recycling and remanufacturing within a closed-loop solar economy framework, alongside avoided grid emissions from on-site electricity generation. 

Fraunhofer ISE, in collaboration with Oxford PV, has developed advanced shingled perovskite-silicon (perovskite-Si) tandem PV modules under Germany’s government-backed HoTSun research initiative.

The glass-glass monofacial Matrix Shingled tandem module. (Photo Credit: Fraunhofer ISE)

The modules were fabricated at Oxford PV’s pilot production facility in Brandenburg an der Havel, where the company supplied its perovskite-Si tandem cells. These cells feature a perovskite top layer, only a few hundred nanometers thick, deposited on a heterojunction (HJT) silicon bottom cell using thin-film processes. While average tandem cell efficiencies were not disclosed, Fraunhofer ISE highlighted the technology’s theoretical efficiency potential of up to 43.3%, significantly higher than the current 29.4% silicon limit.