Research efforts in the renewable energy production sector are the key to face climate change. While waiting for “basic research” to become “applied research”, EF Solare Italia manage your PV plants through technologies designed to improve performances and optimize resources.
NEW PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGIES: FROM PEROVSKITE TO PRINTED PANELS
Ultra-thin photovoltaic panels layered with perovskite, printed with electronic ink, or flower-shaped PV panels oriented through a GPS: new solar technologies offer insights about the future of renewable energy.
Since 1954, when the first silicon solar cell able to generate detectable power was created, or 1979, when the first photovoltaic plant with 1 kW total capacity was installed in Italy, it may seem like the photovoltaic sector hasn’t progressed in terms of technology. If it’s true that traditional panels are still dominating the market, it is also true that research continues, driven by the need for greater efficiency and for space and weight cuts. Let’s have a look at last developments.
Some researchers from University of California in Los Angeles created a new thin-film solar cell, spraying a thin layer of perovskite, a synthetic compound, on a 2-micron thin CIGS solar cell (CIGS = copper, indium, gallium, and selenium): this new two-layer cell is able to convert 22.4% of light into power, compared to 18.7% of the single CIGS cell. The result was validated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the United States Department of Energy.
On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, a team from the University of Newcastle Australia in Sydney has developed solar panels printed with electronic inks, and then applied with standard printers on recyclable sheets of paper. The panel can be installed directly on a surface – such as a rooftop – with a simple double-sided tape and has already been tested in a local industrial site with excellent results. The solution is very cheap and the Institute can already manufacture several hundred meters of photovoltaic modules.
Even traditional panels have found innovative applications, like the solution developed by SmartFlower, an Austrian company headquartered in the USA. It’s a solar panel composed of petal-shaped modules that make the panel look like a big mechanic flower. The “flower” blooms by the first light of the morning and the system is activated: the panel then follows the light thanks to a GPS implanted in the system, so it is always able to place modules in the perfect angle. The panel is 40% more efficient than traditional ones.
Research efforts in the renewable energy production sector are the key to face climate change. While waiting for “basic research” to become “applied research”, EF Solare Italia manage your PV plants through technologies designed to improve performances and optimize resources.