Roll-to-roll manufacturing of high efficiency and low cost flexible CIGS solar modules

Objective

"CIGS solar module technology on rigid glass substrate is already mature and industrial companies are producing hundreds of MWp each year. Bringing flexible CIGS solar modules to industrial maturity will yield the next breakthrough for further cost reduction by taking into account the inherent advantages of thin film technology, e.g. high throughput and large scale coating with less energy and material consumption.
The aim of R2R-CIGS is to develop efficient flexible solar modules by implementing innovative cost-effective processes such that production costs below 0.5 €/Wp can be achieved in large volume factories with annual capacity of 500MWp in future.
The main objectives of this project are:
• Flexible solar cells on polymer film with 20% efficiency and mini-module with 16% efficiency by control of composition gradient, surface, and interface properties on nano-scale
• Transfer of innovative buffer layer process for roll-to-roll manufacturing and replacing problematic CBD-CdS by higher yield processes such as (spatial) ALD and ultrasonic spray
• Developing fully laser based patterning technology for monolithic interconnection in R2R pilot-line
• Scale-up of static multi-stage CIGS deposition process from laboratory scale towards inline R2R compatible processes
• Implementation of the up-scaled multi-stage CIGS deposition process into pilot lines for R2R manufacturing of flexible CIGS modules
• Development of moisture barrier with WVTR < 5x10-4 g/m2/d and cost-effective encapsulation
• Decrease cost of ownership for enabling production costs below 0.5 €/Wp for a commercial plant with annual production of 500 MWp in future"

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: The European Science Vocabulary.

• natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
• engineering and technology materials engineering coating and films
• natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-NMP - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies

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.

• ENERGY.2011.2.1-2 - Development and up-scaling of innovative photovoltaic cell processes and architectures to pilot-line scale for industrial application, Joint call with NMP
• NMP.2011.1.2-1 - Development and up-scaling of innovative photovoltaic cell processes and architectures to pilot-line scale for industrial application, call jointly implemented with ENERGY

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-NMP-ENERGY-2011
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.

CP-IP - Large-scale integrating project

Coordinator

Participants (10)