Scientists from Hasselt University (Belgium), imec, VITO, EnergyVille and international partners within the PERCISTAND consortium have become the first to achieve an energy efficiency of 25% with a thin-film solar cell. This advancement shows that thin-film solar can generate as much energy as a traditional silicon solar cell.
“We’ve achieved an energy efficiency of 25% for the first time, which is just as much energy as a traditional solar cell can generate on a day-to-day basis. And we haven’t yet reached the upper limit of our thin-film solar cells,” said Prof. Bart Vermang, coordinator with PERCISTAND.
The PERCISTAND research project has been awarded 5 million euros of funding from the European Horizon 2020 programme under grant agreement No 850937. The consortium consists of 12 international partners: Hasselt University, imec, VITO, TNO, Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Empa Switzerland, National Centre for Scientific Research – Institute PV France (CNRS-IPVF), Solar Switzerland, NICE Solar Energy, Australian National University, National Renewable Energy Laboratory USA. Imec’s R&D on thin-film photovoltaic solar energy (TFPV) is part of Solliance, a partnership of R&D organizations from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
It was not immediately known what types of thin-film solar cells were used in this test, although supporting image files have “perovskite” and “CIGS” in the descriptions. In 2016, members involved with PERCISTAND used a stack of perovskite and copper/indium/gallium/selenide (CIGS) thin-film to reach 17.8% efficiency on a 3.76-cm2 module. This 25% efficiency announcement results in solar cells approximately 1 cm2.
Vermang expects that perovskite/CIGS panels with 25% efficiency to be available on the market within eight years.
Solarman says
O.K. the old nanosolar CIGS technology was a print on type system that didn’t quite make efficiency demands for the price of the panel(s). Could one, take CIGS and print it on a substrate of mono-crystalline solar cells, then spray on a perovskite third layer and get above 30% cell efficiency? Could one expect somewhere around 40% efficiency, since right now mono-crystalline cells of 20% plus can be bought in manufacturing quantities, print CIGS tuned for another light band gap than mono crystalline and spray on perovskites that are efficient within another light spectrum band gap.
I can feel it, like a charge in the air. Stacked solar PV cell technology that can last 30 years, solid state batteries that are cheap, energy dense and ‘almost’ impossible to fall into thermal run away and catch fire. Solar PV that would last 30 years with 40% efficiency and variable light harvest band gaps, energy storage that would be cheap enough and long lasting enough to allow one to ‘overdesign’ their solar PV/ESS for a 30 year life product. All of this for around $18k installed. We are on the precipice, it is time to take the dive.