What are the prospects for the development of thin-film solar cells

When it comes to solar cells, Silicon crystals, which are made from refined Silicon, currently dominate the industry. This module has been used as the basic technology of solar energy for more than 50 years. Since the first Silicon solar cell was invented in 1954, its number has rapidly increased, and currently, 12 % to 18 % of solar radiation converted into electrical energy is achieved through it.

Crystalline Silicon materials still dominate solar photocell materials, but there have also been many breakthroughs in thin-film photocell technology in recent years. In 2005, crystal Silicon accounted for more than 95 % of the solar PV market. But since then, the market share of thin-film photocell materials has steadily increased over the years and has now reached 25 %. Hundreds of companies engaged in thin-film photocell technology have entered a new phase of research and development and production.

Large and layered thin-film photocell products have been commercialized since the 1990s, and the energy conversion efficiency of thin-film photocell products has reached 6 % to 11 %. The higher the efficiency of energy conversion, the smaller the area required to generate a certain amount of electricity and other auxiliary equipment. This is a very cost-effective thing. At present, the conversion efficiency of thin-film solar cells is still far from that of crystal Silicon, but thin-film solar cells have great advantages in other respects compared to Crystal Silicon. The most important point is that thin-film solar cells have low production costs. Many thin-film solar panels are made of amorphous silicon, and high silicon is used to prepare Silicon crystal solar panels. In addition, thin-film solar cells can also be made of other semiconductor materials, including copper indium gallium selenium(CIGS) materials and cadmium Telluride materials.

Detailed analysis of the development prospect of thin-film solar cell

Wide Prospects for Solar Energy Technology-Practical Thin Film Photocell Project on a Scale

A key issue in the renewable energy sector is when large-scale solar PV technology can compete with or be equivalent to the price of electricity derived from fossil fuels. In fact, the cost of large-scale thin-film photocell technology is already lower than that ofspecial power, but it is currently higher than the cost of burning coal to obtain electricity.

Many producers of thin-film solar cells have been able to reduce costs, and the leader in this area is the first solar company in Tempe, Arizona. The first solar company produced 1 Gigawatt of electricity in 2009 through cadmium Telluride batteries. In other words, 1 Gigawatt is equivalent to the total production of 250,000 large household thin-film solar photoelectric conversion systems.

The first solar company achieved an average energy conversion efficiency of 10.9 % in 2009, and its products became the most energy-efficient products in thin film products. The company also solved the problem of cadmium, a heavy metal used in production, by designing a circulatory system to prevent cadmium, a harmful substance, from being released with waste.

Detailed analysis of the development prospect of thin-film solar cell

In the past few years, the first solar company has greatly reduced its production costs. Their cost is only half that of Silicon crystal materials or other thin-film solar products currently on the market. They cut costs by shortening production times and installing large-scale equipment. Compared with other companies in the industry, First Solar Company large-scale equipment installation costs have been reduced by 10 % to 15 %, but their output is about 10% higher than the company that produces silicon crystals (with the same design efficiency). In the next five years, the company will aim to increase production efficiency by another 15 % and further reduce its production costs. If the company does succeed in achieving that goal, it will be as cheap to get electricity from large-scale thin-film solar devices as it is from fossil fuels.

Can we install photoelectric converters on the roof of every house?

In the future, using more thin-film solar panels will be the right step, meaning more consumers can buy clean energy, but control of energy production will remain in the hands of a handful of big companies and municipalities. In addition, transporting energy from areas with good conditions of sunlight(such as Southwest) to areas with poor lighting conditions requires huge telephone costs to build power transmission networks. At the same time, the infrastructure used to store excess electricity and then release it is also necessary. The alternative to concentrated production is to disperse the production of energy in different places. Why don't we put solar panels on every house and in the parking lot, in addition to making big new ones? Production is carried out in a piecemeal manner. I am convinced that the solar energy available in homes and parking lots across the United States will provide all the energy we need. In fact, some current policies in the United States have already supported this approach.

Because thin-film solar panels are lightweight, it is possible to integrate them into buildings, such as making roofs. Building integrated solar panels is a very new idea. In fact, architects began using solar photovoltaic materials to make roofs as early as the 1980s, and the glass materials currently used to make roofs are expensive and widely questioned. Glass is transparent, has a long life, and is not affected by the weather, but it is fragile and is not an ideal material for making roofs.

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