Objective
Even though solar power is pollution-free during use, production of solar (PV) modules consumes extensive energy and natural resources. Recycling is hardly considered during module production, and therefore cumbersome and inefficient. The fast growth of the PV-industry entails similarly fast growth in resource consumption with growing production capacity: currently modest amounts can become very high. Hence, Cu-PV aims to minimise the use of critical resources like energy (by reducing silicon consumption and improving conversion efficiency), silver and lead, while simultaneously maximising recycling possibilities: introducing design for recycling in this sector, and collaborating over the value chain for improvements in recycling.
Current PV manufacturing puts limitations on reduction of costs and environmental footprint: screen-printed Ag-based metallisation prohibits progress towards phasing out lead and silver consumption and reducing silicon and energy consumption, while module materials prohibit efficient recycling of modules. Cu-PV will develop new metallisation methods based on ink jetting of Ag, Ni, Cu seed layers in WP2 that are plated afterwards with Ni, Cu in WP3, which results in >99% reduction of Ag consumption, enables replacement of silver, and as non-contact metallisation methods enables the use of thin wafers.
The solar cell process before metallisation needs to be adjusted (WP1) to be compatible with this metallisation: back contact solar cell design will allow thin wafers and high efficiencies, resulting in 50% Si and 30% PV System energy consumption reduction. The module assembly and interconnection of cells will need to be optimised for the new cell metallisation. Back-contact interconnection will allow completely abandoning the use of lead (WP4), and will be designed, developed, and tested, for recycling (WP5). WP5 will in particular develop and demonstrate alternatives for the current practice of destruction of PV modules at end of life.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering waste management waste treatment processes recycling
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry transition metals
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry metalloids
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy solar energy photovoltaic
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-ENV-2012-two-stage
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
1755 LE PETTEN
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.