GCL-SI hits 20.6% efficiency for its multicrystalline PERC solar cells

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Having already begun the process in February, which has achieved average cell efficiency of 20.1%, GCL-SI will continue its efforts to scale-up the mass production of PERC. Source: GCL-SI

China-based PV manufacturer GCL System Integration Technology (GCL-SI) has broken its own solar cell average efficiency for its self-developed PERC cells in mass production by utilizing Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) technology – reaching 20.6% from 20.1% in February.

“We have now effectively resolved the issue of multicrystalline PERC cell degradation and power loss,” said Zhang Chun, head of GCL-SI's R&D cell team. “Through proper regeneration annealing processing, an additional absolute efficiency gain up to 0.15% can be reached. Furthermore, the LID results show properly treated cells have significant improvement in degradation behaviour with less than 1% relative efficiency loss.

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“GCL-SI will further advance towards the goal of realising an average efficiency of 20.5% and a maximum efficiency of somewhere between 20.8% and 21% in 2017,” he added.

The company recently showcased its ‘black silicon’ multicrystalline modules, its latest mono PERC offerings and dual-glass products as well as energy storage systems at Intersolar Europe. Black silicon is well-known for its extremely low reflectance and low absorption of some kinds of photovoltaic applications. GCL-SI has taken the lead in the integration of all three existing methods – additive direct texturing, metal assisted chemical etching (MACE), and RIE – thus making massive manufacturing a reality in terms of cost reduction and efficiency gain.

GCL-SI will continue its efforts to scale-up the mass production of PERC solar cells. 

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.

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