R&D needs in solar photovoltaic energy conversion · IEA REWP Joint R&D Seminar, Paris, 3 March 2005. IEA INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SYSTEMS PROGRAMME Solar energy

IEA INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY

PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SYSTEMS PROGRAMME

R&D needs in solar photovoltaic energy

conversion

Hubert FechnerIEA PVPS

IEA REWP Joint R&D Seminar, Paris, 3 March 2005



Solar energy radiated to the earth ~ 10.000 x worldenergy demand

Photovoltaic - direct conversion of solar radiation intoelectricity

How far is the technology today?

http://images.google.at/imgres?imgurl=http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/images/sun-soho011905-1919z.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2372.htm&h=1024&w=1024&sz=118&hl=de&start=1&tbnid=kqJKIgDY4i45dM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsun%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Dde%26sa%3DG



Effi

cien

cy (%

)

Cu(In,Ga)Se2Amorphous Si:H(stabilized)CdTe

Universityof Maine

Boeing

Boeing

Boeing

BoeingARCO

NREL

Boeing

Euro-CIS

12

8

4

0200019951990198519801975

United Solar

16

20

24

28

32Three-junction (2-terminal, monolithic)Two-junction (2-terminal, monolithic)

NREL/Spectrolab

NRELNREL

JapanEnergy

Spire

NorthCarolinaState University

Multijunction Concentrators

Thin Film Technologies

Best Research-Cell Efficiencies

Varian

RCA

Solarex

UNSW

UNSW

ARCO

UNSWUNSW

UNSWSpireStanford

Westing-house

Crystalline Si CellsSingle CrystalMulticrystallineThin Si

UNSWGeorgia Tech

Georgia Tech

Sharp

Solarex Astro-Power

NREL

AstroPower

Spectrolab

NREL

•

Emerging PV

• ••• •

••• •

••

•••

•

Masushita

MonosolarKodak

Kodak

AMETEK

PhotonEnergy

Univ.S.Florida

NRELNREL

NREL

Princeton

U. Konstanz

U.CaliforniaBerkeley

Organic Cells

NREL

NRELCu(In,Ga)Se214x Concentration

Ref. Tom Surek at NREL



Cumulative installed grid-connected / off-grid PV power in the reporting countries

0

500

1'000

1'500

2'000

2'500

3'000

3'500

4'000

19921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005

Inst

alle

dPV

Pow

er (M

W)

Grid-connected

Off-grid

Photovoltaic Market (IEA)

> 4 GW installed

~ 3 TWh Energy



Key playersShare of PV cell production in the reporting countries by company in 2005 (%)

Sharp (JPN)28%

Q-Cells (DEU)11%

Kyocera (JPN)9%

Sanyo Electric (JPN)8%

Mitsubishi Electric (JPN)7%

RWE Schott (DEU, USA)6%

Others (23 companies)16%

BP Solar (AUS, ESP, USA)5%

Shell Solar (DEU, USA)4%

Isofoton (ESP)4% Photowatt International (FRA)

2%



Price of PV modulesPower Modules (1976 - 2001)

1987

1981

2001

1983

1990

1976

1

10

100

0 1 10 100 1000 10000Cumulative Shipments [MWp] power modules

[2001 $]

Price of Power Modules (2001 $)

Estimate 1976 - 2001: PR = 80%± 0.4%

Estimate 1987 - 2001: PR = 77%± 1.5%

Source: Strategies Unlimited





PV cost compared to bulkpowerAssumptions:

1% annual increase in ElectricityTariffs

5% annual reduction in PV costs

Source: EU Technology Platform







Solar cells: today and future

Ref. M. Green, UNSW



Resources and potential

Ref. ISET / Czisch

The solar resource

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Australi

aAustr

iaCan

ada

Denmark

Finland

German

yIta

lyJa

panNeth

erlan

dsSpain

Sweden

Switzerl

and

United K

ingdomUnite

d States

BIPV: Potential contribution to electricity supply



PV R&D: subjects and issuesMain bottlenecks: cost, efficiency, products• Materials• Cells and Modules• System components & BIPV• Processes and manufacturing• Environmental aspects• Quality assurance and standards• Cross-cutting issues



Ingots/Wafer thickness and Cell Efficiency

320300

180 170 160 150

200240

17,5%17,0%16,5%

16,0%15,5%15,0%

14,5%14,0%

120

170

220

270

320

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 201010%11%12%13%14%15%16%17%18%19%20%

Ingots/Wafer thickness (µm) Cell efficiency (in percent)

[µm] [Efficiency in %]



Technology and market

R&DBasic & applied

Products &Applications

MarketPromotion MarketsSolutions &

Manufacturing

TECHNOLOGYDEVELOPMENT

MARKETDEPLOYMENT

INDUSTRYDEVELOPMENT

Cheaper, better and new products enlarge

markets and open new segments.

Greater sales mean higher demand -greater use gives more feedback.

Technology progresses through innovation,

feedback and R&D investment.

Stimulation ofthe production

results in higher quantity and quality.

Improvements result incost reductions,

efficiency increase and enhanced applicability.

Technologycycle

Marketcycle

• Evolution not Revolution(Jeff Portmans)



PV R&D: approaches• Industry involvement• Short, medium, long-term• Continuity• Strong and dedicated effort• Roadmaps



Useful links & contact• http://www.iea-pvps.org• http://www.pvdatabase.com• http://www.epia.org• http://www.demosite.ch

Hubert Fechner, ExCo-Member IEA PVPSHead of Department of Renewable Energy Technologiesarsenal research, Giefinggasse 2, A-1210 Vienna, AustriaTel. +43 50550-6299 Email: [email protected]

R&D needs in solar photovoltaic energy conversion · IEA REWP Joint R&D Seminar, Paris, 3 March 2005. IEA INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SYSTEMS PROGRAMME Solar energy

Documents