Hardware is hard: Lessons from commercialization of high efficiency photovoltaics

Abstract

With the explosive growth of photovoltaics over the last decade, the landscape of solar photovoltaic technol. has been fundamentally altered, with profound implications for paths to commercialization and also the fundamental research objectives that can ultimately yield significant impacts on future photovoltaic technologies. While advances in high efficiency GaAs solar cells and thin film cells have led to commercialization of these photovoltaic technologies, cryst. silicon has dominated all others in the mainstream photovoltaic power marketplace. Silicon modules are now available at costs of <$0.25/W, with high efficiency (cell: η = 17-25%; module: η =15-22%), and silicon module prices are poised to drop even further. These developments have thus moved the advanced research frontiers towards concepts that can enable ultrahigh efficiency (η > 30%). The intrinsic scale of the incumbent photovoltaics industry presents challenges for adoption of any post-silicon technol., motivating a quest for new photovoltaic markets for flexible lightwt. solar cells in mobile power applications.