Tandem solar cells are more efficient but more expensive per unit area than established single-junction (SJ) solar cells. To understand when specific tandem architectures should be utilized, we evaluate the cost-effectiveness of different II–VI-based thin-film tandem solar cells and compare them to the SJ subcells. Levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and energy yield are calculated for four technologies: industrial cadmium telluride and copper indium gallium selenide, and their hypothetical two-terminal (series-connected subcells) and four-terminal (electrically independent subcells) tandems, assuming record SJ quality subcells. Different climatic conditions and scales (residential and utility scale) are considered. We show that, for US residential systems with current balance-of-system costs, the four-terminal tandem has the lowest LCOE because of its superior energy yield, even though it has the highest US$ per watt (US$ W^–1) module cost. For utility-scale systems, the lowest LCOE architecture is the cadmium telluride single junction, the lowest US$ W^–1 module. The two-terminal tandem requires decreased subcell absorber costs to reach competitiveness over the four-terminal one.

串联太阳能电池比已建立的单结（SJ）太阳能电池效率更高，但每单位面积的成本更高。为了了解何时应使用特定的串联架构，我们评估了不同的基于II–VI的薄膜串联太阳能电池的成本效益，并将其与SJ子电池进行了比较。计算了四种技术的平均电费（LCOE）和能量产率：工业碲化镉和硒化铜铟镓，以及假设的两端子（串联连接的子电池）和四端子（电独立的子电池）薄膜，假设有创纪录SJ质量子电池。考虑了不同的气候条件和规模（住宅和公用事业规模）。我们表明，对于具有当前系统平衡成本的美国住宅系统，^–1）模块成本。对于公用事业规模的系统，最低的LCOE架构是碲化镉单结，价格最低的W ^–1模块。两端子串联要求降低子电池吸收器成本，以达到与四端子串联电池相比的竞争力。