Project description
Innovative stable inorganic tandem solar modules
By 2050, renewables will make up at least 60 % of the total energy consumption of many countries worldwide. Renewable energy needs to expand to all sectors, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). In this context, the EU-funded SITA project will explore innovative concepts for tandem solar cells based on silicon heterojunction and high bandgap. These two technologies have a potent competence base in Europe. The project will develop an innovative concept with a two-terminal approach requiring no additional cables or electronics and enabled by recent developments in wide gap copper indium gallium selenide solar cell devices leading to high efficiency. SITA will demonstrate the new modules under realistic outdoor conditions delivering stable inorganic tandem solar modules with superior device efficiency.
Objective
To face the grand challenge of transforming the energy system to include at least 42 % photovoltaic energy in 2050 (as forecasted in a scenario by IRENA), our proposed project, SITA, aims to explore innovative concepts for tandem solar cells based on two technologies with strong competence base in Europe: Silicon Heterojunction (SHJ) and high bandgap Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 (CIGS). A novel tandem concept with a 2-terminal (2T) approach requiring no additional cables or electronics will be developed, enabled by recent and further development in wide gap CIGS devices leading to high efficiency (>18%). SITA will demonstrate the durability of the new modules under realistic outdoor conditions delivering the next generation of stable inorganic tandem solar modules with superior device efficiency (>30%). SITA’s technology will build on and increase the efficiency of SHJ modules by a factor of 1.5 with marginal increase in the use of the costliest raw materials. This in turn leads to a considerable reduction in area related system costs of up to 25 % per installed power and a corresponding reduction in the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Tandem-junction efficiencies have recently approached or even surpassed the single-junction Shockley-Queisser limit for prototype devices. SITA will address the remaining limitations in terms of stability, scaling and manufacturing costs, as well as environmental impact.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
751 05 Uppsala
Sweden