Description du projet
Une solution innovante révolutionne l’industrie durable des plaquettes solaires
Des cellules solaires aux performances optimales sont nécessaires pour maximiser le rendement de l’énergie solaire et renforcer cette révolution énergétique. Cependant, les technologies actuelles impliquées dans le processus conventionnel de production de plaquettes sont coûteuses et énergivores. D’autre part, la concurrence de la fabrication asiatique rend ce secteur extrêmement difficile pour le marché européen. Le projet EpiNex, financé par l’UE, introduira une nouvelle technologie évolutive pour la fabrication massive de plaquettes de silicium plus efficaces pour les cellules solaires, réduisant considérablement les coûts, les émissions de CO2 et les déchets de silicium.
Objectif
Solar power is pitted to become the leading renewable energy sources of the future (10 TW by 2040). To achieve this solar energy revolution, however, the highest efficiency solar cells are needed. Today, manufacturing high-efficiency wafers for these solar cells is expensive and energy-intensive. This is because the conventional process of wafer production is highly material-inefficient and requires a range of heavy-duty machinery. At the same time, extreme costs pressure is coming from Asian wafer manufacturers, who are engaged in price dumping strategies. Consequently, high-efficiency wafer prices are driven to as low as 68% of production costs. This makes it extremely difficult for the European industry to cope, resulting in thousands of job losses across the EU. At NexWafe, we have developed the first fundamentally new mass-scalable technology to manufacture the highest-efficiency silicon wafers, EpiNex, at a 50% lower CAPEX, releasing 50% less CO2 and wasting 90% less silicon material than conventional high-efficiency wafer production. In turn, this results in 70% lower COGS. Our market entry strategy will consist of direct sales of EpiNex wafers to leading high-efficiency solar cell producers, whom we are already in talks with for pilot testing. With EIC Accelerator investment, EpiNex will be able to bring the multi- billion-euro solar wafer manufacturing business back to Europe, creating thousands of jobs and finally multiplying the capacity of the downstream multi-billion high-efficiency solar cell industry.
Champ scientifique
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SME - SME instrumentCoordinateur
79108 Freiburg Im Breisgau
Allemagne
L’entreprise s’est définie comme une PME (petite et moyenne entreprise) au moment de la signature de la convention de subvention.