What is solar cell efficiency and why do numbers of efficiency appear to vary so widely?
Solar cells are often characterized by the percentage of the incident power that they convert into power, called the power conversion efficiency or just efficiency. The efficiency is given by a percentage. The efficiency of a solar cell is determined by the material from which it is made and by the production technology used to make the solar cell. Efficiencies for commercially available solar cells range from about 5% to about 17%. The bulk of the commercial market consists of bulk silicon solar cells, and the research or laboratory efficiency of these is close to 25%. Space applications, where efficiency is more important, often use a different solar cell technology and may consist of solar cells made from different materials stacked on top of one another. The efficiency of these solar cells is up to 33%. The theoretical efficiency limit of solar energy conversion given completely idealized conditions and materials is 86%, but given present technology, solar cells that can potentiall
