Pilot line for European Production of PEROvskite-Silicon taNdem modules on Industrial scale

Project Information

PEPPERONI

Grant agreement ID: 101084251

DOI

10.3030/101084251

EC signature date 20 October 2022

Start date 1 November 2022

End date 31 October 2026

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 17 020 325,00

EU contribution

€ 12 950 825,00

Coordinated by

HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM BERLIN FUR MATERIALIEN UND ENERGIE GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PEPPERONI (Pilot line for European Production of PEROvskite-Silicon taNdem modules on Industrial scale)

Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2024-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Europe is facing the challenge of making its energy system clean, secure and efficient, while ensuring industrial leadership in low-carbon energy technologies. The EU has ambitious goals to tackle the ongoing climate crisis and targets climate neutrality by 2050. Photovoltaic (PV) power generation is pivotal in this transition and the achievement of the zero-emission target.

PEPPERONI was set up to support Europe in reaching its renewable energy targets. PEPPERONI will help advance perovskite/silicon tandem photovoltaics (PV) technology’s journey towards the market introduction and mass manufacturing.

The project will identify and address the barriers to tandem solar technology’s market introduction, and ultimately lay the foundations for fast implementation of new production capacity in Europe as a cost-effective and resource-efficient solution to decarbonise the energy system.

A pilot line enabling this development will be established in Thalheim, Germany, with the long-term vision of enabling European industrial leadership on PV production in the global market.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The first 18 months of the project have been mainly focusing on equipment installation and adaptation as well as developing manufacturing processes to produce perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells in laboratory and pilot line environments.

At the cell level, different approaches to deposit the perovskite absorber are being investigated and benchmarked by analysing the optoelectronic quality of the perovskite film, the efficiency achievable with small-scale tandem prototypes, the scalability of the process to full-size industrial Si wafers, and the applicability of the processes and associated equipment for an industrial production environment.

At the module level, the consortium has been investigating the interconnection of cells into strings and their lamination to produce modules, achieving the cell-to-module loss target defined in the project for small-scale prototypes. For this purpose, a screening of encapsulation materials has been performed. Then, encapsulated tandem solar cells have been exposed to various stability test conditions (thermal cycling, damp heat, light soaking at elevated temperature) to identify the most stable combination of materials. In addition, the outdoor monitoring of small-area tandem prototypes has also begun.

At the pilot line level, processing equipment has been installed and industrial process flows to produce tandem cells are being established. Equipment for the interconnection and encapsulation is being adapted for the application of perovskite/Si tandem module processing. Life cycle assessment and societal impact studies have also commenced.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Key results achieved so far include the implementation and operation of equipment and processes to produce M10-wafer size perovskite/Si tandem solar cells and first full-size prototype modules. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no public demonstration of functional M10 perovskite/Si tandem solar cells, let alone industrial-size functional perovskite/Si modules based on M10 format cells. Other key results include the development and benchmarking of materials and processes for industrial manufacturing of perovskite/Si tandem solar cells and modules, and the demonstration of small-scale encapsulated tandem solar cells passing the IEC 61215 damp heat and thermal cycling test criteria. As one of the most challenging processes, the upscaling of perovskite absorber deposition is being tackled by various methods and multiple partners. While currently most tandem cells from literature are manufactured by spin-coating (solution-based process) the perovskite absorber and other functional layers, this approach is not scalable and therefore not viable for industrial application. In contrast, in Pepperoni we focus on scalable methods. Initial small-area tandem cells fabricated with scalable methods and using Qcells bottom cells employing state-of-the-art industrial manufacturing technology already show very promising performance beyond the state-of-the-art.

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