Dutch-German consortium develops simplified tandem solar modules for European market

Fit4Market

FIT4Market, a four-year research project granted by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), will help drive CO₂ reduction through to 2030, thus supporting national climate objectives. Next to that it’s a new step in bringing PV production back to Europe and rebuilding a competitive PV supply chain.

Typically, PV modules increase their average conversion efficiency by 0.5%/year. This results in the continuous reduction of the price per kWh of PV energy production. However, the power conversion efficiency of conventional silicon-based PV modules will reach its technological limit in 3-5 years. It will become increasingly costly to maintain this positive trend, which is bound to slow down.

High conversion efficiency, cost effectiveness and lower carbon footprint are particularly important for Europe for two reasons. On the one hand, due to the limited availability of suitable PV deployment surfaces and high cost of land, and on the other because of EU climate targets and societal sensitivities to climate change that are driving the transition to sustainable energy.

Tandems

Tandem devices can reach higher efficiencies than single junction solar cells because of an improved utilization of the solar spectrum. The currently emerging tandem cells combine commercial silicon technology for the bottom device, with perovskite technology as the additional layer. Perovskite offers highly efficient conversion of ultraviolet and visible light and excellent transparency to near infrared light. The project aims at developing a simplified approach of the tandem technology to accelerate the market introduction. This consists of building on the experience the partners have gained so far and minimizing the processing complexity.

“The purpose of the collaborative FIT4Market research project is to identify best-practice two-terminal cell development using perovskite and silicon cells in order to develop tandem modules with a competitive LCOE and industry-leading reliability and performance,” says Jorg Muller, Head of cell R&D at Qcells. “Qcells will supply its silicon cell expertise to the project, with our Benelux team overseeing field-testing to measure real world energy performance and yield.”

Maarten Ribbens, Head of Benelux, said: “Qcells current market position is a result of a deep understanding of the addressable market and customer needs. We are extremely excited and happy to be part of this consortium to support the development of this novel solar technology. “

TNO has been developing its tandem technology since 2016 and a handful of industrial partners eventually hope to deploy this technology in mass production. However, tandem PV module technology requires further development at relevant scale before it is industry-ready for introduction into the market.

A new PV era is about to start

The FIT4Market project will validate that tandem module based on currently used PERC bottom cells are industrially manufacturable, competitive in efficiency and cost and competitive in stability. Further, field tests will provide data to enhance bankability; and the project will also interact with end-users of the new technology. The Dutch PV market is especially keen for innovative products due to limited availability of land in the Netherlands, and the opportunity to optimally utilize commercial rooftops for power generation. All these will provide support for further deployment of the technology in Europe. It is expected that as a result, PV module power conversion efficiency can reach over 300Wp/m2 (conventional modules today perform in the lower 200Wp/m2 range).

Partner contribution

The FIT4Market consortium combines expertise and knowledge from Dutch and German organizations. TNO acts as the coordinator of the project and will further develop large area perovskite on silicon bottom cells. SMIT Thermal Solutions will develop a model framework for scaling further to multi-wafer processing. A screen-printed top contact will be added. This perovskite process incorporates an atomic layer deposition step contributed by Levitech. Qcells will provide the bottom cells, with contributions by Tempress and TNO for the emitter technology.  TNO will apply industrial module interconnection and encapsulation compatible with perovskite requirements. Yparex will optimize encapsulants for best compatibility with the perovskite material properties. Further, Qcells Benelux will test the tandem laminates in the field.

The project is co-funded by the Topsector Energy subsidy of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, implemented by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO)