Square solar cells are all the rage these days. Somebody thought of a brilliant plan .. how about we make our solar cells square for more surface area? Brilliant!!! Solarfun (SOLF) announced their square cells which lead to 5% more efficiency last summer and this morning Trina Solar (TSL) has announced that they too have developed a square monocrystalline cell that achieves up to 18.8% efficiency in a lab setting.
“We are excited to announce this breakthrough in monocrystalline cell efficiency, which demonstrates the competence of our R&D team and the centrality of product development at Trina Solar,” said Jifan Gao, Trina Solar’s Chairman and CEO. “Trina Solar will continue to advance its extensive R&D program, aiming to develop solar cell conversion efficiencies of more than 20% over the coming two years.”
Shares of TSL are trading up a little over 1% in premarket trading.