PERC stands for “passivated emitter and rear contact” or “rear cell”. PERC solar modules are built with PERC cells, which have an additional layer on the back of the traditional solar cells. This additional layer allows more sunlight to be captured and turned into electricity, making PERC cells more efficient than traditional cells. PERC modules are also able to mitigate rear recombination and prevent longer wavelengths from becoming heat that would impair the cell’s performance.
Comparing with standard solar modules, the first year degradation of PERC solar modules is less than 3%. After 30 years the output power is not less than 80,68% of the original output power.
Advantages of PERC
PERC technology has been around since 1989, but commercial implementations ran into trouble from increased light-induced degradation. With steady improvements over the years, however, PERC modules now have an efficiency that is 1 percentage point higher than that of standard modules. Given that a standard module typically has an efficiency of 20%, a system using PERC modules will generate about 5% more energy than a system using standard modules, all else being equal.
