World Record Shattered! "RenShuo Solar Energy" Achieves 29.0% Efficiency with Perovskite Tandem Cells | Yunqi Tech π

"Yunqi Tech π" shares updates from Yunqi Capital's portfolio companies, exploring how cutting-edge technology pushes the boundaries of real-world applications and tracking the present and future of tech commercialization. In this issue, "Yunqi Tech π" brings you the latest on Renovaco (仁烁光能).

Source: Shanghai Securities News · China Securities Network

By: Yuqing Wang, with reporter Cong Lin

➤➤➤ Recently, Renovaco — a Yunqi Capital Pre-A portfolio company — saw its all-perovskite tandem solar cell achieve a steady-state power conversion efficiency of 29.0%, as certified by Japan's JET. This breaks the 28.0% world record the team set just this past June.

Japan JET Certification Results

Shen Chengyong, Renovaco co-founder and CEO, said: "In six months, perovskite tandem cell efficiency rose by 1 percentage point. That kind of growth potential is unmatched by any other technology. Next year, Renovaco's tandem cell lab efficiency is expected to surpass 30%."

Tan Hairen, Renovaco chairman and Nanjing University professor, believes this efficiency breakthrough demonstrates that the all-perovskite tandem path — perovskite stacked on perovskite — can achieve far higher efficiencies than single-junction perovskite cells. Single-junction perovskite lab efficiency has barely moved in the past year or two, holding steady around 25.7%. By contrast, all-perovskite tandem cells are breaking through faster and are nowhere near their ceiling.

Research and Engineering in Parallel

This technical breakthrough resulted from close collaboration between Renovaco's university research team and its in-house R&D team. Improvements were made across perovskite material preparation, surface and interface control, and fill factor.

Tan Hairen has spent years in perovskite cell research. He has observed academic research increasingly aligning with industry needs — for instance, exploring large-area manufacturing. In 2022, industry-academia ties in China's perovskite sector grew tighter: multiple companies chose to jointly develop perovskite cells with university teams, and some scholars founded new perovskite companies and raised external funding.

Tan believes the most important aspect of industry-research collaboration is respecting market logic — shifting from an academic mindset to a commercial one. For example, when doing research, one must consider how to engineer it for production. When building a company, you can't rely solely on people from within the university; you need to recruit professional talent from the market across all domains. Renovaco's founding team brings together backgrounds in research, capital, and manufacturing.

With research and engineering advancing in tandem, Tan Hairen's Renovaco team has now set seven world records for tandem cells.

Pilot Line Expected Q3 2023; Mass Production in 2024

Shen Chengyong explained that Renovaco's 150MW pilot line is expected to begin production in Q3 2023, with mass production targeted for 2024. Planning for the subsequent GW-scale line will start at year-end 2023, contingent on results from the 150MW line's debugging. Design work for the 150MW line is fully complete, core equipment has been ordered, and construction has begun. The company previously built and commissioned a 10MW line, which serves as its product development platform.

Renovaco's commercialization proceeds in two steps. First comes single-junction cells; once that technology matures, the company will upgrade to tandem cells. Within two years, single-layer perovskite cell modules are expected to reach 18% shipping efficiency. Tandem cells will likely launch six months to a year after single-junction cells, with a target shipping efficiency of 22%.

Shen believes the ultimate production target is tandem cells because only tandems can compete with silicon. A single-junction perovskite cell at 18% efficiency can compete with cadmium telluride solar cells, but it cannot displace silicon.

On product applications, Tan said perovskite cells will initially be used in BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaics), consumer electronics, and new energy vehicles — domains where they can differentiate from silicon — before eventually transitioning to utility-scale solar farms. When perovskite capacity reaches several dozen GW, the BIPV and NEV markets can absorb it; when capacity scales to hundreds of GW, solar farms will be needed as an outlet.

2022: The First Year of Perovskite Commercialization

"2022 can be called the first year of perovskite cell commercialization. This year, several companies commissioned perovskite cell pilot lines or made significant construction progress. For the industry, this was a change from nothing to something — this is the year when commercialization prospects truly became visible." Looking back at year-end, Shen offered this summary of his observations.

2022 was also Renovaco's founding year. The company commissioned its 10MW line and completed design of its 150MW line; closed angel and pre-A rounds raising several hundred million yuan; and expanded its R&D team from single digits to over 40 people.

Looking ahead to 2023, Shen said the priority is to keep heads down and execute. On the science side, keep breaking their own records. On engineering, keep tackling the most critical pain points: large-area manufacturing, stability, and so on.

Tan hopes to see continued breakthroughs in perovskite cell research and commercialization. On the research front, the potential of perovskite materials remains far from fully tapped — more researchers need to join forces to push efficiency higher. On the commercialization front, next year could see attempts at large-area module certification, since certifications to date have mostly been at the cell level, with module certification still rare.

In humanity's history of exploring new materials, perovskite stands out for combining low cost, high efficiency, and simple preparation. But whether we can fully harness this material still requires human ingenuity. The Renovaco team remains deeply confident in perovskite cells' long-term prospects. As Shen put it: "Perovskite cells are still in the early stages of commercialization, but no matter how winding the path, the future is very bright."

Yunqi Capital remains focused on "technology innovation, industry enablement," with intelligent manufacturing as one of its sustained areas of focus. Beyond Renovaco, Yunqi made early-stage investments in Xingji, Pulaixin Intelligent, Yinxin Technology, Qinghe Jingyuan, Wide Energy Semiconductor, Yijiu, and other outstanding companies.