RESEARCH : SOLAR ELECTRICITY PROJECT BREAKS POWER CONVERSION RECORD.

Scientists from the European Commission-financed project Fullspectrum have developed multijunction photovoltaic solar cells that can convert 39.7% of the sun's energy into electricity, the highest percentage reached in Europe, according to researchers at a workshop in El Escorial, Spain, on 20 November.aConventional photovoltaic cells made of silicon are converting only around 17% of the solar light spectrum.

Materials such as gallium, phosphorus, indium and germanium enable Fullspectrum's multijunction solar cells to catch more energy from the sun's light. The system can produce over a thousand times the natural solar power flux by arranging the cells in panels with lenses focusing a considerable amount of solar energy onto them.

The Fullspectrum project involves 19 European public and industrial research centres from seven EU member states as well as from Russia and Switzerland. Coordinated by the Instituto de Energia Solar at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid in Spain, the project was...