The Planet-Scale Performance Potential of Si-Perovskite Tandem Solar Farms

Recent developments in monofacial multi-junction Perovskite-Si tandem technology have produced 30% efficient cells under controlled laboratory conditions. A bifacial tandem would further enhance the energy yield potential. However, recent studies have demonstrated that the current matching constraint erases the performance gain of two-terminal (2T) Tandem modules (over single junction HIT cells) due to time-dependent albedo associated with realistic solar farm configurations. Here, in this planet-scale study of the performance potential of tandem solar cells, we show that three or four-terminal modules (3/4T) would achieve the anticipated performance gain (17-23%) despite albedo variation. As such, 3/4T tandem will be the key to realizing/unlocking the next-generation leaps in yield performance and should be the key focus on research/development of next-generation solar modules and solar farms.