Half-cut cell technology was introduced by
Norwegian brand REC in 2014. The European company called their new panel line Twinpeak. The first model was polycrystalline, but the new design made it powerful enough to compete with naturally more efficient monocrystalline panels.
Since then the technology has been adopted by other manufacturers:
Trina Solar,
Panasonic,
Q CELLS, Certainteed,
Mission Solar all use half-cut cells. Experts from INRPV (International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaic) expect
the share of half-cell solar panels to increase even further: from around 20% in 2020 to more than 60% in 2030.
The engineers build upon their success with half-cut cells and test how far they can go using the same idea. Trina Solar started making large 210mm square cells that are
split into three pieces. This format is used for high-output panels that reach 600W in power. Some study the possibilities of splitting cells in four, five, six sections, but so far these projects haven’t turned into the market product.