Dr Isao Takasu, Toshiba Corporation, Japan, discusses the growing global solar market and the developments in photovoltaic technology that are helping the industry to flourish.
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cross the world, countries and organisations are striving to reduce their carbon emissions and meet ambitious sustainability goals. The recent United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, placed a magnifying glass on the current situation, and it is vitally important in the coming months and years that sustainability efforts continue to intensify both at a geopolitical, enterprise, and societal level. As carbon emissions are reduced, the emphasis must be placed on transitioning to renewable energy sources to replace them. Steady progress is being made here – according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), renewables made up 29% of global electricity generation in 2020.1 While hydropower is currently responsible for much of this, both wind and solar power are also growing in usage and are expected to contribute to two-thirds of total growth in renewables. The concern is that, with over 70% of energy still being generated by non-renewable sources, the rate at which the transition to sustainable power generation is achieved needs to exponentially increase.
The rise of solar Solar itself offers significant potential, but is one such renewable energy source yet to be maximised. There are several ways in which solar energy can be generated, including concentrated solar energy (CSP) and thermal, but currently photovoltaic (PV) modules are the primary source. Global electricity generation by this method is rapidly growing – it is expected to have increased by almost 18% in 2021. Yet even with this significant forward step, greater progress is required. As the IEA states, while “policy deadlines led to a PV deployment boom in 2020 […] more effort is needed to reach 2030 net zero levels.”2 Put simply, increasing usage of PV power generation will be essential to achieving carbon neutrality.
Maximising the potential of PV modules Today’s most widely used PV modules are made with crystalline silicon – a heavy and rigid composition which limits where they can be installed. For example, as of today mega-solar power plants have generally been installed on vacant sites or in mountains, but there are fewer places where conventional silicon mega-solar power plants can be installed. Yet given the need for more rapid acceleration towards solar, there is a growing need for large scale electricity generation in urban areas. Local production for local consumption will be the key in the future. It is for this reason that the polymer film-based perovskite PV module offers an attractive next-generation alternative, boasting a number of benefits over the widely-used crystalline silicon PV modules. Thinner, lighter, and more flexible perovskite PV modules can be installed in locations where it is too difficult to use silicon PV modules, such as low load-bearing roofs and office windows. Within urban environments where space is at a premium, this offers a game-changing solution for solar power generation – significantly expanding the number of existing locations where PV modules can be installed. One need only imagine the financial or business district of any major city, filled with glass-fronted buildings, to realise the opportunity for such technology. While polymer film-based perovskite PV modules have the potential to drive solar power generation to the levels needed to meet carbon net zero targets, the current issue with them when compared to
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