THE CHALLENGE OF PV TECHNOLOGIES Thomas Berger Wenzel Fiala Hannes List

Physics of solar cells

Technologies of solar cells Silicon solar cell  Monocrystalline silicon  Poly- or multicrystalline silicon  Ribbon silicon Silicon thin-films  amorphous silicon  protocrystalline silicon  nanocrystalline silicon

Technologies of solar cells Cadmium Telluride (CdTe)  Thin-film, easy to deposit, large scale production Copper-Indium Selenide (CuInSe 2 )  Thin film, high optical absorption coefficients Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) Multijunction  Multiple thin films, Triple-junction cell, each conductor absorb light most efficiently at a certain colour, absorp nearly the entire solar spectrum

Technologies of solar cells Single Crystal Solar Cell  high-purity material, excellent efficiencies and long-term stability, too expensive for mass production Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC)  manufactured by screen printing, lowest-cost solar cell Organic/Polymer Solar Cells  Low efficiency, mechanical flexibility Nanocrystalline Solar Cells  high surface area to increase internal reflections and hence increase the probability of light absorption

Current use of PV-Technologies  Low power applications/solar chargers  Solar parks/power plants  Water pumping  Space applications  And many, many more

Efficiency in current PV-Technologies  Currently efficiencies of solar cells – maximum 20 %  In research labs they reach already 35 % and more  Theoretical calculations of up to 80 % in the future

The future of PV-Technologies Many research groups in universities and research institutions around the world are currently active in the field of photovoltaics. This research can be divided into three areas:  Making current technology solar cells cheaper and/or more efficient  Developing new technologies  Developing new materials

Photovoltaic in Austria

Funded since the mid-1980s First program in 1992 („200 kW-photovoltaic- broadtest“) Today Vorarlberg has more than 1/3 of Austrians PV-Powerplants

Photovoltaic in Austria Installed performance:Accumulated performance:

Photovoltaic in Austria Till the end of 2006, 25.5 MWp has been installed Of this amount, 88% were run by grid-connection, 12 % autarchically There is an estimated amount of approximately 20 GWh/year PV-power in Austria

Photovoltaic in Austria Costs: 49 Cents for plants < 5kW 42 Cents for plants between 5-10 kW 32 Cents for plants > 10 kW

Photovoltaic in Austria 20% scenario in Austria till 2050

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