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The walking personality disorder who occupies the Oval Office under the title of Fertilization President unleashed his “American Energy Dominance” plan with the aim of promoting fossil fuels, and it’s been downhill ever since. In the latest development, the leading Chinese firm Trinasolar has jumped into the perovskite solar race with a new 808-watt, industrial-scale, tandem perovskite-silicon module ready for commercial production.
Perovskite Solar Cells Are Coming For Your Fossil Fuels
Silicon solar cells have already begun chasing fossil fuels out of the power generation field, and now here comes next-generation perovskite technology. Synthetic perovskite crystals are designed to mimic the superior optical gymnastics of the naturally occurring mineral perovskite. Discovered in 1839, perovskite is composed of calcium titanate (or calcium titanium oxide, if you prefer; see more perovskite background here).
A research team based in Japan was credited with the first practical application of perovskite to solar cells in 2009. Although they reported a lowly solar conversion efficiency of just 3.8%, that was enough to catch the eye of solar researchers around the world, including the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which quickly adopted perovskite solar cells and built up a sprawling R&D portfolio around the technology.
The NREL portfolio includes new tandem perovskite solar cells, which combine the low cost of perovskites with the durability of conventional silicon solar cells. The result of all this work is a new generation of less expensive, higher-performing solar cells, poised for commercial production.
China Picks Up The Perovskite Solar Cell Ball And Runs With It
The US was already facing plenty of competition in the global perovskite solar cell race by 2023, when the Chinese firm LONGi announced a record-breaking solar conversion efficiency of 33.9% for their new tandem solar cell.
“The 33.9% figure is significant because it edges past the theoretical limit for solar conversion efficiency in a silicon solar cell. The limit been established at 33.7% based on calculations by solar researchers William Shockley and Hans-Joachim Queisser back in 1961,” CleanTechnica noted last year.
That’s an impressive feat. Though, some researchers advise that the highest conversion efficiency is not necessarily the most economical pathway for mass producing a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell. In Germany, for example, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute propose that a solar conversion efficiency of 31.6% would be a useful target under manufacturing systems designed for tandem solar cell production.
The World’s First Industrial-Scale, 808-Watt Tandem Solar Cell
Trinasolar is among the perovskite solar manufacturers focusing on bankability. On March 28, the company announced that their new 3.1 square meter industrial scale perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell has been certified for peak power output of 808 watts by the global certification firm TÜV SÜD.
“The successful development of the world’s first 808W perovskite/silicon tandem solar module with a 210mm industrial-standard size is a significant step toward the industrialization of tandem modules,” enthused Trinasolar Chairman and CEO Gao Jifan.
“As a transformative solution for next-generation solar energy, perovskite/silicon tandem technology is poised to become the new industry standard, signaling a historic shift from silicon-based solar cells to tandem solar cells and ushering in a new era of sustainable development,” Trinasolar emphasized.
Meanwhile, Back In The USA
Trinasolar also noted that its 10-year R&D investment in perovskite solar cell technology has involved substantial partnerships with Nanjing University—Jiangsu and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, among others.
Meanwhile, back here in the US, President Fertilization and his team have been tearing up solar research and deployment projects like so much confetti. Too bad the joke’s on them. Thanks to previous taxpayer-funded investments in perovskite solar cell R&D, manufacturers here in the US have already laid the groundwork for commercial-level perovskite solar production.
The US startup Tandem PV, for example, has received support from the US Department of Energy over the years. On March 5 of this year, Tandem announced that it secured $50 million in Series A funding towards its plans for bringing its new tandem solar cell to the US market, bringing its total haul to $83 million in private and public sector investments and debt.
The Series A fundraiser got plenty of support from the private sector, indicating that investors remain confident in the US solar market regardless of the fossil-friendly energy policy promoted by the White House. The round was spearheaded by the leading venture capital firm Eclipse, with participation from Constellation Energy, Planetary Technologies, Uncorrelated Ventures, Trellis Climate, former SunPower CEO Tom Werner, Stifel Bank, and CSC Leasing along with other new and existing investors.
“This investment will enable Tandem PV to construct a breakthrough commercial-scale manufacturing facility in the U.S., accelerating the adoption of its high-efficiency solar panels and allowing the U.S. to reduce its dependency on foreign manufacturers while increasing its energy security,” Tandem PV explained, noting that its perovskite-silicon combo currently delivers 28% solar conversion efficiency.
Pending further tweaks later this year, Tandem expects that its technology will hit 30%, bringing it close to that 31% sweet spot for economical manufacturing.
“With a perovskite layer 200 times thinner than silicon and requiring just 10% of the energy needed to produce conventional panels, Tandem PV’s technology sets a new benchmark in sustainable solar manufacturing,” Tandem adds, noting that their manufacturing process saves energy.
Next Steps For Solar Manufacturing In The US
Tandem PV is not the only US manufacturer putting the lie to the smoke-and-mirrors act of Trump’s energy policy. After all, if the point is to take advantage of abundant and economically accessible energy resources in the US, solar should be front and center.
Regardless of White House policy, the solar cat is already out of the bag. As the last weeks of former President Joe Biden’s tenure drew to a close, solar manufacturers in the US blew past the key milestone of 50 gigawatts in capacity for solar module production.
There’s plenty more where that came from, thanks in part to overseas investors. The Vietnamese Boviet Solar, to cite one example, is getting ready to officially open its new, $294 million solar factory in North Carolina, aiming at the residential, commercial, and industrial markets. The company anticipates an annual output of 2 gigawatts to start with.
Another example is T1, the newly rebranded iteration of the Norwegian firm Freyr, which is prepping a 5-gigawatt solar facility for production in Texas. Hold on to your hats….
Photo (cropped): Ten years of perovskite solar cell R&D is paying off, as leading manufacturers prepare to bring next-generation perovskite-silicon tandem PV cells to market (courtesy of NREL).
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