L R AS Published on Tuesday 12 April 2022 - n° 401 - Categories:Europe
Europe relies on new technologies for industrial renaissance
Europe plans to develop a photovoltaic industry. This will be done around new technologies, inventors who will coexist with more traditional players.
The global solar industry seems to have realised the need for localised production chains in all its key regions. Europe, India and the US are launching major incentives and plans for vertically integrated manufacturing comparable to that already in place in China.
In Europe, projects are seeking to be at the cutting edge of technology by adopting the heterojunction (HJT). Over the past 15 to 20 years, this technology has steadily reduced costs, made improvements and increased yields. HJT competes with PERC technology and its main rival TOPCon. TOPCon and HJT still need to improve their performance, reduce costs, increase durability
In Europe, the manufacturing plans (Meyer Burger, REC Group, Recom, Enel) are all focused on HJT. Yet there are many innovations waiting in the wings that promise to both support existing plans and move PV manufacturing in new directions.
HJT technology
It brings cells one step closer to their practical efficiency limits. The industry is looking at new materials such as perovskites often deposited on a silicon cell to create a tandem cell. Tandem cells and even perovskites are seen by many as the future of photovoltaics.
Oxford PV, based in the UK and Germany, is one of the pioneers of tandem cell technology, and has already approached the 30% efficiency mark with lab-scale cells. The company believes it can bring perovskite-silicon panels manufactured at its Brandenburg, Germany, site to market before the end of this year. Oxford PV believes that innovation is needed, not just old technology
Shortages, forced labour, supply problems require offshoring of production. Wacker and Elkem have the capacity to supply much of the silicon that European manufacturers will need in the coming years.
German start-up NexWafe is developing a technology that would replace the silicon production processes (i.e. ingot pulling and sawing) with a single step by creating silicon wafers directly from chlorosilane gas. The process, according to its creators, would halve the cost of wafer production and produce more uniform and higher quality wafers than current technology allows. The company wants to invest €39m to commission a 500MW plant by early 2024.
New thin-film technologies also promise to reduce much of the cost and complexity of manufacturing silicon photovoltaic panels. The UK company Power Roll recently completed a pilot production line for its technology. It deposits solar cell material in a unique micro-furrow structure. The company uses perovskite as the cell material. It estimates that once in production, the technology will reduce the initial investment by 50%, and therefore halve the payback period compared to existing silicon production
The location
Following the completion of its 100 MW line in Brandenburg, Oxford PV is planning another 2 GW cell and panel factory, but has not yet confirmed its location. This depends on government support. NexWafe's German site would require €100m, with a government contribution of 10-12%. This is not much to support an innovation.
Both NexWafe and Power Roll are pursuing a business model of licensing their technology to other manufacturers, rather than manufacturing it themselves. India's Reliance has invested €25m in NexWafe and plans to implement the wafer technology. Power Roll also plans to manufacture its thin-film technology in India with its partner Thermax.
Both innovators want their process to be developed in Europe as well.
Value chain :
Oxford PV was careful to use materials that were available in all regions. It determined that there was over 30 TW of perovskite material.
NexWafe is locating in Bitterfeld (Germany) because there is a chlorosilane production facility nearby. For the project(s) to take shape, all the products needed to produce a panel (glass, frames, etc.) must also be available. The whole supply chain needs to be created around the factory
PV Magazine of 9 April 2022
Editor's note: Some one-off innovations have made it to the pre-industrial stage. The claims of lower costs still need to be confirmed when production moves to the mass production stage. Unfortunately, we have the experience of the production of moulded wafers developed by 1366 Technologies, which raised high hopes, which were dashed when the process was industrialised.
This recourse to innovation in order to impose oneself on the market is questionable: one wants to move to a technological "plus" in order to impose oneself, but unless one revolutionises the entire production chain, one only modifies one part of the sector. It is also necessary to be efficient in the traditional parts (the creation of the cell, the production of the panel). This is why if a large company decides to invest in the sector, the probability of success is greater because a large structure has the operational competence and financial resources to support its new subsidiary. This is what the Indian company Reliance has done.
