For more than a decade, PERC (Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell) has been the architecture behind the majority of solar panels deployed around the world. If you’ve seen solar panels on rooftops or in utility-scale fields, there’s a very good chance many of them use PERC technology.
What is PERC?
At its core, PERC is a refinement of traditional crystalline silicon cells. Solar cells work by absorbing sunlight and converting it into electrical current. In a basic cell, some of that current is lost at the rear surface due to recombination, where electrons recombine with “holes” before they can be used.
PERC adds a passivation layer on the rear side of the cell. This layer reduces those recombination losses by creating an electrically “quiet” surface that keeps charge carriers moving toward the contacts rather than disappearing unused. This simple change boosted the efficiency of standard silicon cells and significantly improved real-world yields.
Why it matters
While achieving 20–22% peak module efficiency was a great step forward, PERC’s greatest achievement is how the technology enabled solar to scale.
PERC technology:
- Was inexpensive to integrate into existing production lines
- Delivered reliable performance
- Helped solar achieve cost-competitiveness with fossil fuels
This combination helped drive global solar capacity skywards in the 2010s and early 2020s.
Benefits
- Mature and well-understood: Decades of commercial experience and design stability
- Low cost: Minimal changes from standard silicon manufacturing
- Proven reliability: Strong track record in diverse climates
Limitations
- Efficiency has nearly reached its practical ceiling
- Higher temperature coefficients than newer silicon technologies
More pronounced degradation over time compared with emerging options
Why then is PERC still important?
Even as newer designs like TOPCon and heterojunction gain ground, PERC will remain an important base technology. For budget-constrained installations, particularly in sunny, hot environments where temperature coefficient matters less, PERC can still deliver attractive returns.
Boˆreal 