US PV module manufacturer Silfab Solar has acquired a patent portfolio for back-contact (BC) solar cells from solar research firm EnPV.
The technology patent portfolio is for self-aligned back contact (SABC) solar cell technology, which Silfab said “enables precise alignment and improved electrical performance in cell and module fabrication.”
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EnPV – a subsidiary of German energy company EnBW (Energie Baden-Württemberg) – says the technology is designed to “upgrade” mass-market tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon). The company claims its SABC production process is lower cost than TOPCon processes, easily upgraded from a TOPCon production line and more efficient and “elegant” than existing back-contact production processes.
Paolo Maccario, Silfab president and CEO, said the SABC technology was “specifically designed for the US market.”
He continued: “Acquiring these cutting -edge technology patents and intellectual property will enable us to develop the next generation of solar panels for the Silfab Elite Series and beyond, ensuring we continue to offer our customers high-quality, powerful solar modules manufactured in the US while preserving and protecting strategically important European and American innovation.”
Silfab is currently establishing a TOPCon solar cell manufacturing facility in South Carolina. The company has secured multiple rounds of funding for the project, which has been delayed due to local opposition.
TOPCon technology has become the dominant strand of PV cell technology in the last two years, adopted by the majority of the major global solar manufacturers to replace passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) technology.
Some technological experts and certain companies are betting on BC technology being the successor to TOPCon. In late 2023, professor Martin Green, the man credited with a major part in the invention of PERC technology, predicted that interdigitated back contact (IBC) technology would “win” the race against other technologies.
More recently, Radovan Kopecek, director of ISC Konstanz in Germany, has backed BC as the superlative crystalline silicon cell technology. Speaking to PV Tech at Intersolar Europe in Munich earlier this month, Kopecek said he expected the technology to begin replacing TOPCon in the next two-to-three years on a large scale.
Industrially, China’s LONGi Green Energy and Aiko Solar have bet the most on BC technology. LONGi recently announced that it had deployed 10GW of BC technology modules in Europe and the company launched a 25% conversion efficiency heterojunction back contact (HBC) module at Intersolar Europe.
