Following years of effort, including installation of world-class equipment, introduction of verification process, and passage of large-scale measurement comparisons, the Photovoltaic Efficiency Verification Laboratory (PVEVL) of the Research Center for New Generation Photovoltaics, the National Central University, has passed ISO-IEC 17025 certification, the first local PV-cell calibration body to do so.
As a result, the laboratory will be able to offer strong support to the development of new-generation PV cells in Taiwan, including DSC PV cell, OPV PV cell, perofskite PV cell, and QDSC PV cell, which have been mushrooming in recent years, thanks to their advantages over mainstream silicon PV cells, such as simpler process, less components, high efficiency even under weak light, and 20-50% higher power output.
The laboratory will be able to provide parameters of new-generation PV cells, such as maximum power output and light-electricity conversion rate, via precise measurement, facilitating their commercialization.
The PEVLV introduced world-class PV cell calibration evaluation equipment and standard calibration procedure for standard testing in 2013 and completed first large-scale PV cell capacity verification in Taiwan in 2015, followed by establishment of lighting-source measurement system and technology for capacities of new-generation light-driven PV cells in 2017.
PEVLV is furnished with multiple cutting-edge equipment, such as solar simulator, which can measure the efficiency, voltage, current, and power of new-generation PV cells, and spectrum measurement instrument, which measures energy consumption of incident light of PV cells, a key for PV-cell conversion rate.
Microscope
Spectrum measurement instrument
Solar simulator
Spectroradiometer
The PEVLV has measured over 100 new-generation light-driven PV cells for over 30 academic and industrial bodies and is expected to help local research bodies publish their topnotch PV technologies in leading international journals, such as "Solar Cell Efficiency Tables" and "NREL Efficiency Chart."
(Collaborative media: TechNews, photo courtesy of TechNews)
