A photovoltaic apparatus (1000) is provided including a front sheet (250) having a first portion (2501) and a second portion (2502). The photovoltaic apparatus further includes a back sheet (210) having a first portion (2101), a second portion (2102), and a first folded portion (2103), where the second portion of the front sheet is disposed between the second portion of the back sheet and the first folded portion of the back sheet. The photovoltaic apparatus further includes one or more photovoltaic devices (100) disposed between the first portion of the front sheet and the first portion of the back sheet, where each of the one or more photovoltaic devices includes an array of photovoltaic cells (105).

A method for producing a photovoltaic solar cell, including the method steps: A. providing at least one solar cell precursor having at least one base and at least one emitter; B. providing a metal film on a back side of the solar cell precursor, so that the metal film is electrically conductively connected to the base or the emitter, the metal film being formed as an integral component of the back side contact and the solar cell being terminated on the back side. The at least one cell connection region on at least one side of the metal film overhangs the edge of the solar cell precursor by at least 1 mm, preferably by at least 3 mm.

A method includes providing an electrically conductive mandrel having an outer surface layer comprising a preformed pattern. The metallic article is electroformed. The metallic article includes a plurality of electroformed elements formed in the preformed pattern on the outer surface layer of the mandrel. The plurality of electroformed elements have a first side adjacent to the outer surface layer of the mandrel and a second side. The metallic article is separated from the mandrel. The plurality of electroformed elements are interconnected such that the metallic article forms a unitary, free-standing piece. A solution is applied to create a blackening of the first side of the plurality of electroformed elements.

Methods of fabricating solar cells having a plurality of sub-cells coupled by cell level interconnection, and the resulting solar cells, are described herein. In an example, a solar cell includes a plurality of sub-cells. Each of the plurality of sub-cells includes a singulated and physically separated semiconductor substrate portion. Each of the plurality of sub-cells includes an on-sub-cell metallization structure interconnecting emitter regions of the sub-cell. An inter-sub-cell metallization structure couples adjacent ones of the plurality of sub-cells. The inter-sub-cell metallization structure is different in composition from the on-sub-cell metallization structure.

Devices and methods for cleaning an array of solar panels in side-by-side relation employ one or more elongated flexible elements, preferably implemented as translucent strips (14a, 14b, 14c, 14d), anchored at their ends relative to the array of solar panels (12). Each strip spans two or more solar panels, and is wind-displaceable so as to contribute to cleaning of at least two of the solar panels (12).

Photovoltaic devices with very high breakdown voltages are described herein. Typical commercial silicon photovoltaic devices have breakdown voltages below 50-100 volts (V). Even though such devices have bypass diodes to prevent photovoltaic cells from going into breakdown, the bypass diodes have high failure rates, leading to unreliable devices. A high-efficiency silicon photovoltaic cell is provided with very high breakdown voltages. By combining a device architecture with very low surface recombination and silicon wafers with high bulk resistivity (above 10 ohms centimeter (Ω-cm)), embodiments described herein achieve breakdown voltages close to 1000 V. These photovoltaic cells with high breakdown voltages improve the reliability of photovoltaic devices, while reducing their design complexity and cost.

A photovoltaic device is described, the device comprising a transparent conducting electrode layer; a back contact layer comprising at least one MXene material; and an active layer, comprising a photovoltaic active material, disposed between the transparent conducting electrode layer and the back contact layer. Also described is a method of producing a photovoltaic device, the method comprising the steps of providing substrate, depositing a transparent conducting electrode over the substrate; depositing an active layer comprising a photovoltaic material over the transparent conducting electrode; and depositing an MXene layer material over the active layer. A method of generating electricity using the disclosed device is also described.

A solar power system may comprise a back sheet that comprises an interconnect circuit coupling a plurality of cell tiles. A tiled solar cell, comprising a solar cell and encapsulating and glass layers, is inserted into the cell tiles of the back sheet. Each solar cell is individually addressable through the use of the interconnect circuit. Moreover, the interconnect circuit of the back sheet is programmable and allows for dynamic interconnect routing between solar cells.

Reconfigurable PV panels can have features that include cut lines for separating full panels into smaller subpanels, connector ribbons for assembling several reconfigurable PV panels into a one-dimensional or two-dimensional array and can be stacked upon each other and unstacked by rotating them about a shared connection.

The present disclosure relates to large cell sheets, solar cells, shingled solar modules, and manufacturing method thereof. A top surface of a boundary portion of units of the large cell sheet is divided into a cutting area, top surface bonding areas and top surface electrically-conductive contact areas. The cutting area is configured in a way that the large cell sheet can be cut along the cutting area; the top surface bonding areas and the top surface electrically-conductive contact areas are provided alternately, the cutting area and the top surface electrically-conductive contact areas are formed as an overlapping edge of the solar cell, and after the splitting of the large cell sheet, the top surface electrically-conductive contact areas can directly contact the bottom surface of another solar cell to achieve electrically-conductive connection. The large cell sheet according to the present disclosure can be split conveniently, and the individual solar cells are provided with dedicated bonding areas and electrically-conductive contact areas. Such an arrangement can optimize the production process and use performance of the solar cells.