I saved the most potential game-changing solar technology in the last interview spot, the update of Perovskite-based solar cell technology with the Chief Technology Officer of Oxford PV, Dr. Christopher Case, of this series of Intersolar North America 2015 interviews. Recallingone of our earlier posts, I wrote about Perovskite, a calcium titanium oxide mineral discovered in the Ural Mountains of Russia in 1839. This new old material is generating quite an explosive buzz because scientists have found, in recent years, that it is a great material to be used in solar absorption applications. It can be made simply and inexpensively by using common wet chemistry lab methods and low cost equipments instead of the expensive deposition equipments common in the semiconductor industry. To take a look at how this process is made cheap and accessible, I’m sharing the video below:
These solar (photovoltaic) cells are made in tandem (layer by layer) fashion on a specially coated glass support. In the video above:
the glass is coated with a dense layer of titanium dioxide, by robotic arm, to prevent electrical charge generated by sunlight from leaking out of the cell.
a less dense porous oxide layer covers the dense oxide layer (usually titanium dioxide, other oxides may also be used).
a simple high speed spin coater deposits this layer from solution and spreads this coating evenly across the device.
heating this glass/device in an oven conditions it for solar cell use.
prepare the Perovskite material (which absorbs in the broad range of solar spectrum) by combining 2 precursor materials: PbI2 (lead iodide) & CH6IN (methylammonium iodide)
drip the liquid phase mixture (from 5.) onto the oxide coated device (from 4.)
spin the resulting device in 6 to assure even coating
applying halide solution
heating the device resulting from 8 on a hot plate–>spontaneously crystallizes precursors in freshly deposited liquid
color changes also result from crystallization process resulting from 9.
Such tandem product has the advantage of being able to be introduced into existing infrastructure of current silicon module manufacturing process, boosting its efficiency. With added few steps toward the end of the production line, the coating (equivalent to second solar cell) takes advantage of the blue portion of the solar spectrum and may improve the solar cell efficiency by 20-25% above the underlying silicon. The fact that Perovskite-based solar cell technology is of earth abundant material also insures its availability and low cost. Its high absorption in solar spectrum enables it to have comparable characteristics to that of gallium arsenide. Its ability to change its sensitivity to different band gaps in solar spectrum allows it to make different architectures in tandem solar cells. It can truly be considered as the Custom Solar Absorber! In short term, Perovskite-based solar cell may boost the efficiency level of existing technology and in the long term, it may be a stand-alone technology with closer efficiency level to that of gallium arsenide but at a much lower cost. It may potentially be sprayed, ink-jet printed, dip-coated, etc. It is no wonder that Dr. Case commented, “the perovskite in solar application is the fastest increasing photovoltaic efficiency of any solar photovoltaic thin film material ever! In just a few years, it went from a lab efficiency of about 6% to well over 17%…the material is a very good solar absorber….bringing the material to 25% efficiency in a monolithic layer and 30%+ in a perovskite tandem layer….potentially the future replacement for silicon.”
The perovskite thin-film solar cells, is currently being developed by Oxford PV (a spin-out from the University of Oxford in 2009-2010 to commercialize this technology, which has exclusively licensed the intellectual property developed by Professor Henry Snaith and his team of 20 scientists). Below, Professor Henry Snaith will embellish upon the development of this solar technology:
Oxford PV plans on continuing to optimize this technology’s cell efficiency and accelerate the transfer of the technology into production. Furthermore, it aims to develop the range of substrates to which the cells can be applied. With its promising future, we, the solar enthusiasts and investors alike, should keep our eyes on Oxford PV in the coming years. In the next few years, we anticipate that Dr. Henry Snaith and his team of scientists will continue to tackle challenges in trap densities, doping densities, mobility, mechanisms for free carrier generations, etc., to further improve device performance. You will find that many in the solar industry share the optimism of Professor Henry Snaith and Dr. Christopher Case.
For those of you interested in more details about Perovskite-based solar cell technology, please refer to the two videos below:
1. Introducing Perovskite Solar Cells to Undergraduates:
2. Perovskite Solar Cells: From Device Fabrication to Device Degradation-Timothy Kelly:
~have a bright and sunny day~
Gathered, written, edited, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Any comments and suggestions are welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics:
IT TAKES EARTHLY COLLABORATIONS (Greeenfield-Shunfeng-Suntech-Youmex) TO GENERATE SUNNY DISPOSITION FOR SOLAR POWER ! THERE IS HOPE & OPTIMISM FOR EARTHLINGS AFTER ALL!
It takes Earthly Collaborations To Generate Sunny Disposition For Solar Power (credit: sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
(Please click on red links and note magenta)
Suntech and Greenfield Form a Strategic Alliance With youmex Providing a Complete Financial Package in the UK (Press Release)
Suntech will supply the alliance’s UK solar projects with its world-class panels
“We are excited to complement our partnership with Greenfield with youmex’s financial services to our customers. We believe that this alliance will serve as another catalyst for growth in the UK’s solar market,” said Eric Luo, CEO of Suntech. Luo, who is also responsible for Shunfeng Photovoltaics International Holding’s acquisition strategy, added that “through our partnership, Suntech and Shunfeng will be able to look at other acquisitions in the market as part of our strategy to become the largest integrated clean energy supplier globally.”
In the alliance, Greenfield will provide EPC services, while youmex will arrange construction loans and long-term project financing as well as selling the PV Solar Power Plants to investors.
“With its fully integrated transaction management of these three tasks, youmex speeds up and assures the whole process of financing and sales for one of the largest PV pipelines in UK,” explains Kai Hartmann, Head of Corporate & Structured Finance at youmex group. “We are very thrilled to be part of the alliance that unites the core competencies, experiences and strengths of these three complementary partners.”
“Together with the expertise of Suntech and youmex, our alliance is well-positioned to solidify a strong presence within the UK’s Solar PV market,” echoed Helmut Kube, Managing Director of Greenfield.
Among its many products for utility-scale projects, Suntech produces 60 Cell polycrystalline modules which are excellent for weak light performance markets such as the UK and are manufactured with advanced cell technology material making them highly resistant to Potential Induced Degradation (PID), thus allowing for high performance under extreme conditions for many years.
“We have great confidence in the quality and sustainability of our products for these projects,” said Luo. “Our polycrystalline silicon modules recently ranked above industry standards in a technical review conducted by UK-based consultancy OST Energy and received the VDE-Quality Tested certification, which recognizes high quality products that go beyond existing standards in the photovoltaic industry.”
About Wuxi Suntech Power Co., Ltd.
Wuxi Suntech Power Co., Ltd., a company incorporated in the PRC in January 2001, produces industry-leading solar products for residential, commercial, industrial, and utility applications. Suntech has delivered more than 30 million photovoltaic panels or 8 GWs of installed capacity to more than 1 thousand customers in more than 80 countries. Suntech’s pioneering R&D creates customer-centric innovations that are driving solar to grid parity against fossil fuels. Suntech’s mission is to provide reliable access to nature’s cleanest and most abundant energy source.
About Greenfield
Greenfield Solar International GmbH & Co. KG is a German EPC company which configures, builds, operates, and maintains photovoltaic roof and ground-mounted installations across Europe and has gained a good reputation for planning, engineering, logistics with procurement and for the turnkey construction of solar farms. Greenfield has built solar farms with a track record of over 650 MW in the last years and brought them to the grid in major European countries such as Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, and United Kingdom.
About youmex group
youmex group, based in Frankfurt, combines special financing solutions with a track record of about 3.5 billion Euros. As a financing platform, youmex acts as a one stop shop by simplifying, accelerating and optimizing financing and capital market transactions for almost 15 years. The Project Finance area focuses on the Real Estate and Clean Energy assets. In particular, youmex arranges bridge, construction, short-term and long-term financing of wind and solar parks for project developers and investors throughout Continental Europe, United Kingdom (UK), South and Middle America. youmex also sells wind and solar power plants as an investment product. youmex is a German Stock Exchange (Deutsche Boerse) Listing Partner and is regulated by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) as a financial services institute.
With the ever-expanding solar industry, one finds more and more internationally operated photovoltaic company such as Gehrlicher Solar, a company from Germany, with subsidiaries and joint ventures on four continents (including France, India, Spain, South Africa, and Romania). Gehrlicher Solar, one of the most experienced photovoltaic companies in Europe, is founded in 1994, that develops, plans, builds, finances, and operates solar power plants for ground mounting and for roofs, from private houses to multi-megawatt systems. Gehrlicher Solar also plans, sets up, and manages profit-oriented photovoltaic funds and private placements for private and institutional investors. As the solar industry evolves from solely-Save Our Planet Solution into multi-billion dollar with long-term profitability industry, services provided by Gehrlicher Solar becomes more and more relevant every day.
Gehrlicher Solar was acquired by the M + W Group last year and has leveraged the parent company’s financial strength and global reach and built on its already solid reputation as one of the foremost engineering, procurement, construction, operations, and maintenance (EPC O&M) firms in the commercial and utility scale solar market. In 2013, Gehrlicher/M+W more than doubled its annual project installation rate to 82 MW and continued with a robust growth trajectory in the U.S. and Latin America. Gehrlicher/M+W is expanding its capabilities, leading in the integration of energy storage, hybrid power generation, and grid stabilization solutions. Below is an interview with the Sr. Director of Marketing David Hague of Gehrlicher Solar during InterSolar North America 2014, on July 9, 2014, overlooking Yerba Buena Gardens:
Director Hague discusses various emerging market opportunities within the solar industry: from PV + storage technology, control technology stabilizing the grid, to the fact that solar is now cost competitive with the coal (cheapest fossil fuels technology), and the fact that solar is a much easier generating-asset to permit and build than any other generating asset. Solar is very reliable and secure asset.
For further inquiry regarding planning a photovoltaic system or searching for potential partnership with Gehrlicher Solar, please contact:
Gehrlicher Solar Services GmbH
Feldkirchener Str. 2
85540 Haar Germany
Today, I want to share an interview of Tor Blackstad, a representative of TUV Rheinland PTL, during the Solar Power International (SPI) 2012, on September 13, 2012, at Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. The interview was filmed by Michael Nunamaker and conducted, edited, and uploaded by Susan Sun Nunamaker, below:
TUV Rheinland PTL is part of the world’s leading network for photovoltaic and renewable technology testing. They perform testing, certify products, overseeing regulation compliance for all the major standards, including the U.S. based safety requirements for photovoltaic systems. This company has begun about 140 years ago, started from Rheinland, Germany (near Cologne, where TUV Rheinland’s global head quarter is located) when 1 out of every 2 boilers would blow up. So, testing was definitely needed. From testing/certifying boilers, TUV Rheinland then branched into locomotives, to health care products and software services, etc. Now a global company with over 15,000 employees and over 600 offices that tests and certifies any thing from locamotives, power plants, to health and solar products. Their office in Tempe, AZ covers the entire North American market. The company web site is: http://www.us.tuv.com
Again, any of your comments, suggestions, questions are welcomed via sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Please feel free to visit http://www.sunisthefuture.net for more on solar energy.
~have a bright and sunny day~
written and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.sunisthefuture.net
If you are in favor of renewable/CLEAN energy, please sign the petition page showing support for FIT/CLEAN Program at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065 Thank you.
I came across an interesting graph on the evolution of solar power/technology today in an article by Sebastian Anthony in ExtremeTech,
History of Solar Power/Technology
started from the lucky finding by Alexandre Becquerel in 1839, a current was generated when an electrode in a conductive solution was hit by sunlight . Then came the first solar cell, at 1% efficiency, produced by Charles Fritts in 1883. It was in 1904, Albert Einstein published a paper on the discovery of the photoelectric effect, followed by a flurry of photoelectirc advances until AT & T Bell Lab created the first modern silicon solar cell in 1954. Between 1950s and 70s cost (about $250 per watt) and efficiency (10%) were two important factors preventing solar power to be the major power player. But today, the solar power industry has brought the cost/price per watt down to around $3 and at-home installations are becoming more common. In 2010, even President Obama ordered the installation of solar panels and a solar hot water heater at the White House. It will simply be a matter of few years when solar power will overtake coal in terms of cost and efficiency. As storage battery technology advances and the fact that solar power is the much cleaner technology (therefore, at a much lower environmental cost) and the technology least likely to generate warfare among nations, solar power/technology does appear to be the best choice for the future of planet earth.
Posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture@gmail.com
If you are in favor of renewable/CLEAN energy, please sign the petition page showing support for FIT/CLEAN Program at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065 Thank you.
My concerned friends/readers from Midwest (MI and IL) and Canada, I can assure you that there will be plenty of sunshine for you to also become involved with solar energy projects! The sunlight that our solar system is exposed to could either be direct (unobstructed by clouds) or diffused (filtered either by clouds or atmosphere). Although the amount of diffused sunlight (caused by cloud) would increase as we head northward, solar technology can use either form (direct or diffused) of sunlight to produce electricity by using a well-designed PV (photovoltaic) system. As a matter of fact, besides geographical location, seasons, elevation, and angle of the sun can also affect the usable amount of solar energy. To increase the amount of energy produced, solar tracker (either 1-axis/single axis or 2-axis/dual axis) devices are introduced to orient various payloads (such as PV panels, reflectors, collectors, lenses, etc.) toward the sun. Typically, a 1-axis or single axis tracker has one degree of freedom and changes its orientation throughout the day, while a 2-axis or dual axis tracker have two degrees of freedom that would change its orientation throughout the day and from season to season.
A backyard installation of passive single–axis trackers, DC rated at 2340 watts. Seen here in winter midday position, tilted toward the south. The tall poles allow walk-under and use of the ground space underneath the panels for plantings that thrive on protection from the intense midday summer sun at this location
At this point, I want to share with you a really cool looking house, the Gemini House/Gemini Haus, that rotates in its entirety and the solar panels rotate independently, allowing control of the natural heating from the sun. What a great way to ensure that the sun always shine on your photovoltaic array! Gemini House (or Gemini Haus) was designed by Roland Mosl, to combine innovative solar technology and an eye-catching aesthetic. It was the first energy plus house (self-sufficient, and sometimes more) in Austria.
Gemini House/Gemini Haus rotates in its entirety and the solar panels rotate independently, allowing control of the natural heating from the sun. The inventor stands in the middle of the group
