Increasing markets and decreasing package weight for high-specific-power photovoltaics

Reese, Matthew O.; Glynn, Stephen; Kempe, Michael D.; McGott, Deborah L.; Dabney, Matthew S.; Barnes, Teresa M.; Booth, Samuel S.; Feldman, David J.; Haegel, Nancy M.

doi:10.1038/s41560-018-0258-1

Title: Increasing markets and decreasing package weight for high-specific-power photovoltaics

Journal Article · Mon Nov 05 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Nature Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-018-0258-1· OSTI ID:1485564

Reese, Matthew O. ^[1]; Glynn, Stephen ^[1]; Kempe, Michael D. ^[1]; McGott, Deborah L. ^[2]; Dabney, Matthew S. ^[1]; Barnes, Teresa M. ^[1]; Booth, Samuel S. ^[1]; Feldman, David J. ^[1]; Haegel, Nancy M. ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)

We report that thin-film and emerging technologies in photovoltaics (PV) offer advantages for lightweight, flexible power over the rigid silicon panels that dominate the present market. One important advantage is high specific power (the power-to-weight ratio). Here we consider niche market size, price points and value propositions that can provide a path for new PV market entrants. Examining the cost-production experience curves of Si, CdTe and CIGS PV suggests that a minimum market size of US$0.2-1 billion is required to incubate a new market entrant. Several markets requiring high specific power meet this threshold. We assess the critical role of the substrate, packaging and interconnects and provide a quantitative assessment of pathways to maximize specific power. With all requisite components included, along with requirements for safety and reliability, we estimate a lower bound for a durable lightweight module at about 300-500 g m^-2. Lastly, pairing this bound with a 15%-efficiency thin-film or 35%-efficiency III-V module would yield specific powers up to 500 W kg^-1 or 1,167 W kg^-1, respectively.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1485564

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-70241

Journal Information:: Nature Energy, Vol. 3, Issue 11; ISSN 2058-7546

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 90 works

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