Terawatt-scale photovoltaics: Transform global energy

Haegel, N. M.; Atwater, Harry A.; Barnes, Teresa M.; Breyer, Christian; Burrell, Anthony K.; Chiang, Yet Ming; Wolf, Stefaan De; Dimmler, B.; Feldman, David; Glunz, Stefan W.; Goldschmidt, Jan Christoph; Hochschild, David; Inzunza, Rubén; Kaizuka, Izumi; Kroposki, B.; Kurtz, Sarah; Leu, S.; Margolis, Robert; Matsubara, Koji; Metz, A.; Metzger, Wyatt K.; Morjaria, Mahesh; Niki, Shigeru; Nowak, Stefan; Peters, Ian Marius; Philipps, Simon P.; Reindl, Thomas; Richter, André; Rose, D. M.; Sakurai, Katsutoshi; Schlatmann, Rutger; Shikano, Masahiro; Sinke, W.C.; Sinton, R.A.; Stanbery, B.J.; Topič, Marko; Tumas, William; Ueda, Yoshisuke; Lagemaat, Jao van de; Verlinden, Pierre J.; Vetter, Matthias; Warren, Emily L.; Werner, Mary; Yamaguchi, Masafumi; Bett, Andreas W.

doi:10.1126/science.aaw1845

Cited by 389 publications

(242 citation statements)

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“…The requirement of electricity-based synthetic fuels leads to an increase in primary energy demand of 36%, which seems to be moderate from energetic point of view and attractive from economic point of view. Renewable electricity costs further decline [95], and thereof solar PV is projected to continue the outstanding cost decline to historically unrivalled levels [162] enabling multiple power-to-X processes [163]. Meanwhile, fossil fuels are expected to increase [164,165].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Transportation Demand Development with Impacts on the Energy Demand and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in a Climate-Constrained World

et al. 2019

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The pivotal target of the Paris Agreement is to keep temperature rise well below 2 °C above the pre-industrial level and pursue efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5 °C. To meet this target, all energy-consuming sectors, including the transport sector, need to be restructured. The transport sector accounted for 19% of the global final energy demand in 2015, of which the vast majority was supplied by fossil fuels (around 31,080 TWh). Fossil-fuel consumption leads to greenhouse gas emissions, which accounted for about 8260 MtCO2eq from the transport sector in 2015. This paper examines the transportation demand that can be expected and how alternative transportation technologies along with new sustainable energy sources can impact the energy demand and emissions trend in the transport sector until 2050. Battery-electric vehicles and fuel-cell electric vehicles are the two most promising technologies for the future on roads. Electric ships and airplanes for shorter distances and hydrogen-based synthetic fuels for longer distances may appear around 2030 onwards to reduce the emissions from the marine and aviation transport modes. The rail mode will remain the least energy-demanding, compared to other transport modes. An ambitious scenario for achieving zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is applied, also demonstrating the very high relevance of direct and indirect electrification of the transport sector. Fossil-fuel demand can be reduced to zero by 2050; however, the electricity demand is projected to rise from 125 TWhel in 2015 to about 51,610 TWhel in 2050, substantially driven by indirect electricity demand for the production of synthetic fuels. While the transportation demand roughly triples from 2015 to 2050, substantial efficiency gains enable an almost stable final energy demand for the transport sector, as a consequence of broad electrification. The overall well-to-wheel efficiency in the transport sector increases from 26% in 2015 to 39% in 2050, resulting in a respective reduction of overall losses from primary energy to mechanical energy in vehicles. Power-to-fuels needed mainly for marine and aviation transport is not a significant burden for overall transport sector efficiency. The primary energy base of the transport sector switches in the next decades from fossil resources to renewable electricity, driven by higher efficiency and sustainability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Transportation Demand Development with Impacts on the Energy Demand and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in a Climate-Constrained World

et al. 2019

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“…Since different cell configurations are evaluated, producing a variety of power-voltage curves and therefore different maximum power points (MPP), it is necessary to employ a measure of power loss that is comparable between configurations. The measure -fractional power loss p [7] is defined as the ratio between lost power P loss and power in the MPP P MPP of an ideal, unshaded cell as shown in equation (1).…”

Section: Fractional Power Lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A booming market for photovoltaics (PV) has exceeded 400 GWp [1] of installed PV capacity in 2017 and the prognosis shows that it is to reach as much as 1 TWp of installed PV capacity by 2022/23 [2]. Operation at terawatt-scales gives us the ability to vastly increase the global energy production with even the smallest increase in the performance of each individual solar cell.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As PV technologies are spreading to every corner of the globe, an idea of optimising solar cells to their expected operating conditions instead of standard test conditions (STC), has arisen, maximising their annual energy yield instead of promoting performance at STC, since they hardly ever occur during field operation. Since Silicon wafer based PV technologies still take up the majority of the global market [1], an optimisation of screen printed front metallisation of top contacted silicon solar cells, could lead to a vast energy yield increase with virtually no additional production costs [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optimisation of Front Metallisation Pattern in Silicon Solar Cells for Annual Energy Yield

2020

Informacije MIDEM

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With photovoltaic installations reaching into the 1 TWp range and the demand for green electric energy on the rise, every fraction of a percent of increased solar cell efficiency counts, and would result in a substantial increase in the annual energy yield of the installed photovoltaic capacities. An optimisation of the front metallic grid would provide a relatively simple yet cost-effective boost to the solar cell efficiency. We employed a freely available 2.5D photovoltaic simulator to model shading and resistive losses of the front metallisation grid, and for further optimisation of the grid for annual energy yield regarding the irradiation distribution. We were, therefore, able to increase the effective efficiency of the simulated solar cells up to 1% over the whole year depending on the location. Optimizacija sprednje metalizacije silicijevih sončnih celic na nivoju letnega donosa energijeIzvleček: Maksimalna skupna inštalirana vršna moč sončnih elektrarn je začela posegati v 1 TWp območje, popraševanje po čisti električni energiji pa je vedno večje, zato je dobrodošlo tudi najmanjše povečanje izkoristka sončnih celic, ki pa bi, zaradi masovne uporabe, izdatno pripomoglo k letnem izplenu energije sončnih elektrarn. Optimizacija prednje metalizacije predstavlja enostavno in poceni možnost povečanja izkoristka sončnih celic. Z uporabo 2.5D fotovotaičnega simulatorja smo modelirali izgube zaradi upornosti in senčenja prednje metalizacije in optimizirali prednjo metalizacijo za čimvečji letni izplen energije. Na tak način nam je uspelo povečati efektivni izkoristek modeliranih celic za do 1% v celem letu, odvisno od modelirane lokacije.Ključne besede: Optimizacija energijskega izplena, Optimizacija prednje metalizacije, PVMOS

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“…Promoting the energy transition from its current fossil fuel‐based status towards a renewable and sustainable future is the goal of new and conventional photovoltaic technologies. Nowadays, fixed tilt flat‐plate c‐Si modules reach up to 24.4% efficiency while decreasing their cost to unprecedented prices, ie, $0.25/W p at the end of 2018 . On the other hand, dual‐axis tracked concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules equipped with four‐junction (4J) solar cells convert up to 38.9% of the direct spectrum but fail to exploit the diffuse component.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and outdoor characterization of a hybrid bifacial HCPV module

Martı́nez

Steiner

Wiesenfarth

et al. 2020

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Conversion of direct, diffuse, and albedo irradiance into electricity is demonstrated with a new kind of hybrid bifacial high‐concentration photovoltaic module named bifacial EyeCon. It consists of Fresnel lenses that concentrate the direct sunlight 321x onto III‐V triple‐junction solar cells that are mounted on the front surface of p‐PERC bifacial c‐Si cells. Thus, the Si absorbs the front and rear diffuse irradiance. Because III‐V and Si cells are electrically isolated (hence a 4‐terminal device) but thermally coupled by a dielectric adhesive, Si also acts as a heat distributing substrate. To accommodate the concentrator cells, we adapted the metallization layout and also optimized it for low intensity, ie, 200 W/m2 on the front and 100 W/m2 on the rear, using finite element network simulation. Additionally, when the concentrator cells are mounted on a bifacial Si cell instead of a metal heat distributor, their operating temperature is 16 K higher. However, we demonstrate with outdoor measurements that the power output of the bifacial EyeCon module reaches up to 326 W/m2 when the direct to global irradiance ratio is 92%. At a lower fraction of 70% the bifacial Si cells augment the power output of the III‐V string by 19%rel

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Terawatt-scale photovoltaics: Transform global energy

Abstract: Improving costs and scale reflect looming opportunities

Cited by 389 publications

References 10 publications

Global Transportation Demand Development with Impacts on the Energy Demand and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in a Climate-Constrained World

Global Transportation Demand Development with Impacts on the Energy Demand and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in a Climate-Constrained World

Optimisation of Front Metallisation Pattern in Silicon Solar Cells for Annual Energy Yield

Development and outdoor characterization of a hybrid bifacial HCPV module

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