However, the challenges impeding market growth are overcapacity, price compression, and intensifying technological competition.
This is where Back Contact (BC) technology emerges as the next industrial engine of PV efficiency, cost-competitiveness, and long-term reliability. Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl, Editor-in-Chief of ESI Africa reports.
Between 2023 and 2025, global PV installations expanded at a compound growth rate exceeding 20%, driven by China, Europe, and the US. China alone accounted for more than half of global new installations in 2024, reaching nearly 278GW and a cumulative 880GW.
Yet, this growth surge has a darker side. From 2023 to 2024, module prices collapsed by 64%, from $0.27/W to $0.10/W, as capacity far outstripped demand. Over 1TW of manufacturing capability across polysilicon, wafers, cells, and modules competed for a global market of just 545GW DC in 2024.
The resulting “race to the bottom” has slashed margins, pushed weaker players out, and threatened quality and innovation.
The industry’s survival strategy must now rely on efficiency + cost reduction, achieved through technological iteration. History shows that every 1.5-2% gain in conversion efficiency marks a new generation in PV development.
From Al-BSF to PERC, TOPCon, and now BC, each generation of PV technology has been defined by how effectively it manages light and charge.
In 2017, PERC cells surpassed Al-BSF by 2%, triggering full market substitution within a year.
By 2023, TOPCon held an 80% market share, with an average efficiency of 25%, roughly 1.6% higher than PERC.
BC technology, meanwhile, now delivers mass-production efficiencies exceeding 27%, matching the same efficiency differential that has historically driven every previous transition.
This consistent pattern demonstrates a self-reinforcing technological law that once a new PV architecture achieves an efficiency advantage of roughly 1.5% while maintaining cost parity, market adoption accelerates irreversibly.
The concept of Back Contact cells dates to the 1970s, when researchers sought to eliminate front-side shading losses by relocating electrical contacts to the rear of the cell.
The idea was brilliant but impractical as manufacturing the design was complex, yields were low, and costs prohibitive. For decades, BC remained a niche technology, confined to high-end applications like aerospace.
What has changed in the 2020s is industrial feasibility. Through sustained R&D and process innovation, pioneered largely by Chinese manufacturers such as Aiko Solar and LONGi Green Energy, this technology has crossed the threshold from laboratory prototypes to mass-produced mainstream products.
Three major shifts have underpinned this breakthrough:
The PV industry is entering what analysts call the “BC decade” (2025–2035). As global power systems evolve toward higher shares of variable renewables, technologies that maximise energy yield per unit area and maintain stability under thermal and shading stresses will define competitiveness.
Empirical field data already show that BC modules deliver 1.2 to 3.2% higher energy generation than TOPCon under clear conditions and 4 to 33% gains under partial shading, which are critical advantages for urban rooftops, floating solar, and desert applications.
Moreover, as module carbon-footprint metrics become procurement criteria, BC’s higher efficiency and lower material intensity will translate into stronger sustainability credentials and financing advantages.
Market projections anticipate that BC modules will capture over 60% of global share by 2030, becoming the dominant crystalline-silicon technology.
Topic: How BC Technology is Redefining Solar Returns
Date: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Time: 2:00–3:00 PM SAST
Register now to explore how BC innovation is reshaping the economics of solar and driving the world toward a high-efficiency, low-carbon energy future.
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