Tandem PV

Tandem PV has been selected for the US Department of Energy's ARPA-E SCALEUP Ready program, winning approximately $7.7 million to support the commercial scale-up and US manufacturing of its tandem technology. SCALEUP Ready is ARPA-E's "disruption wing," aimed at helping promising advanced energy technologies move from development toward market adoption and commercial deployment.

The award will support Tandem PV's Tandems for American National Dominance in Energy Manufacturing (TANDEM) project, which the company says will help move its high-efficiency tandem panels toward large-scale commercial production and support US solar PV manufacturing. Tandem PV's technology combines an ultra-thin perovskite layer with conventional silicon, a design the company says packs more power into the same panel footprint and helps lower costs; it claims up to 29.7% efficiency for its tandem modules under internal testing.

Tandem PV, a U.S. developer and manufacturer of high-efficiency perovskite-silicon solar panels, has announced that it has acquired nexTC Corporation, an Oregon-based developer of advanced thin-film metal oxide coating processes. 

The acquisition brings nexTC’s coating technology, intellectual property, and technical expertise into Tandem PV, giving the company greater control over a critical coating process as it ramps its Fremont demonstration line and prepares for commercial-scale production. nexTC specializes in solution-based transparent oxide coatings. In tandem solar panels, these ultrathin layers modify charge transport while allowing sunlight to reach the silicon cell below. Their performance is important to module efficiency, durability and manufacturability.

TandemPV has installed one of its perovskite-silicon tandem panels atop UC Merced's Science and Engineering 2 Building for outdoor testing, installed alongside smaller Tandem PV test panels already in place, marking the start of a multi-month durability study run with UC Merced researchers.

The panel is built on Tandem PV's approach of integrating a perovskite layer into existing silicon solar manufacturing supply chains. A coating just one-hundredth the thickness of a human hair is meant to boost the panel's energy output from 24% to 30%, which the company says translates to about 30% more electricity from the same footprint compared with a typical silicon panel. Because labor and balance-of-system costs account for roughly 75% of utility-scale solar costs, generating more power per panel without a larger footprint helps bring down the overall cost of a solar installation.

TandemPV has announced a 30.4% efficient perovskite/silicon demonstration module, weeks after the company reported crossing 30% efficiency.

The 100 cm² mini-module, featuring the company’s proprietary 4-terminal perovskite glass layer atop a high-efficiency Maxeon IBC silicon solar cell, is now in third-party certification. 

The countdown is on for Perovskite Connect 2026, returning to Berlin on 21–22 October 2026. If you’re planning to attend, now’s the perfect time to secure your place - as prices will be going up at the end of the month!

Join leading researchers, manufacturers, and innovators shaping the landscape of the perovskite photovoltaics field. Building on last year’s momentum, Perovskite Connect 2026 will once again unite the global perovskite community for two days of insights, networking, and progress.