SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund funded R&I projects covering the whole value chain of photovoltaic energy generation; from the initial point of view of improving the quality of starting supporting wafers and advanced and novel high throughput manufacturing processes to the integration of PV power, installation and ancillary services like inverters or storage solutions that all together help the final deployment of solar photovoltaic energy needed to decrease GHG emission and reach social and industrial decarbonization.
Remarkably large efforts have been dedicated to the development of new materials, silicon based and other than silicon technologies like conductive transparent inks, advanced foils, bifacial devices, encapsulants, insulators, CIGS, organic semiconductors and perovskites, oxide anodes and cathodes that need to work together in a synergic combination to fully exploit the benefit of solar power and decrease the dependence on fossil fuels.
The overall impact of the funded projects has been tremendously positive. The power conversion efficiency of all the different kind of devices has always considerably progressed and achieved higher values clearly above the level at project started, overcoming in many cases 25%, and reaching 36% for concentrating technologies. In addition to more efficient devices and panels, SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund has contributed to the cost reduction of PV electricity production for existing technologies, working first at materials and processes level, and to reach very competitive LCOEs focusing also on the whole technical chain of a PV plant.
In the case of less developed technologies, SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund projects have in general risen TRL from lab demonstration to system prototype demonstrations in operational environments, bringing emerging technologies to the gates of industrialization and commercialization, and opening a new world of possibilities to make any suitable surface solar active and convert it into a power generator. Continued and new collaborative schemes are needed in order to address the challenges and grasp the huge opportunities related to develop and deploy a clean, renewable and decarbonised electricity / energy system thanks solar power technologies.
In terms of networking of national and regional research and innovation programmes, SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund maintained and further enhanced coordination, coherence and networking between national programmes, also through successive and successful Cofund joint calls, providing momentum to contribute to support the implementation and achieve the objectives of the SET plan, Energy Union package and ambitious climate targets.
