Finnish team gets €2.5 million for III-V solar cells project
Mircea Guina of Tampere University of Technology (TUT) in Finland has been granted €2.5 million in ERC funding in a new five year project Advanced III-V Materials and Processes Enabling Ultrahigh-efficiency (50 percent) Photovoltaics to boost of the efficiency of III-V solar cells.
The ERC funding was the result of long-term research strategy at TUT. Guina's group began its research on high efficiency solar cells with support of Tekes funding in 2009. At the time, a novel material was developed that enabled several cell structures to be stacked for better harvesting of the solar spectrum.
A follow-up project funded by the European Space Agency, ESA, involved the development three-junction solar cells using the same material. The ERC project to be launched this year will build on the previous research and aim at developing solar cells with unprecedented output, comprising up to eight junctions.
Today, the best performing solar panels are able to convert up to 30-40 per cent of the energy contained in sunrays, while the new cells could improve this number to over 50 per cent, say the researchers.
"Percentage-wise, this may not sound like a major improvement, but when you consider the fact that increased cell efficiency could reduce the energy costs by at least 20 percent, we are talking about billions of euros worldwide," the project leader, Mircea Guina explains.
"The sun is the most abundant and in many ways predictable energy source available to us. The role of solar energy is on the rise," he continues.
In addition to creating new technology, Mircea Guina's group also aims to deploy this technology with a quick schedule. "To give you an idea of the scope: a whole soccer field full of current silicon cells could be replaced with just a few square meters worth of new cells made of the III-V materials and produce same energy," Guina explains.
This new technology could also prove useful in space. Lightweight is a substantial benefit for telecommunications satellites, for example. Higher efficiency solar cells are also needed for deeper space travelling.
"If I had to wish for a practical outcome, I hope to be able to incorporate these III-V cells in satellites in approximately ten years' time, but for terrestrial purposes, the technology can be deployed a lot sooner," says Guina.
