This Bill Gates-backed technology could be the future of solar power - Interesting Engineering
This Bill Gates-backed technology could be the future of solar power
This Bill Gates-backed technology could be the future of solar powerThe tech consists of perovskite panels.Loukia Papadopoulos| May 20, 2023 10:27 AM ESTCreated: May 20, 2023 10:27 AM ESTinnovationIllustration of a modern perovskite high performance solar cell module.audioundwerbung/iStock Stay ahead of your peers in technology and engineering - The BlueprintBy subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Policies You may unsubscribe at any time.A company backed by Bill Gates is aiming to commercialize perovskite panels in order to make solar energy extremely viable. CubicPV, based in Massachusetts and Texas, is supported by Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures.The firm is currently engineering new solar panels consisting of a bottom silicon layer and a top perovskite layer resulting in an efficiency of 30 percent. This is according to a report by CNBC published on Saturday.CubicPV CEO Frank van Mierlo told the news outlet the company’s perovskite chemistry and its low-cost manufacturing method for the silicon layer mean the firm's products make economical sense. Related Bill Gates-backed startup is using robots to build enormous solar farms The 8 most innovative technologies in renewable energy A novel use of solar panel material can substantially upgrade durability See Also And people are starting to take notice. Just last month, the Department of Energy revealed that CubicPV will be the lead industry participant in a new Massachusetts Institute of Technology research center.Together, these organizations will harness automation and artificial intelligence to significantly improve the production and development of tandem panels. “Tandem extracts more power from the sun, making every solar installation more powerful and accelerating the world’s ability to curb the worst impacts of climate change,” told CNBC Van Mierlo.“We believe that in the next decade, the entire industry will switch to tandem.”CubicPV is also in the process of looking for a location to build a new 10GW silicon wafer plant in the United States. Most Popular Challenges aheadBut all is not rosy yet! Perovskites still face many hurdles in terms of cost and durability. Lead halide perovskites are winning the race to be the best performing so far but researchers are still trying to formulate other compositions to avoid lead toxicity.Martin Green, who heads the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, told CNBC that silicon-based tandem cells are likely to be the next big development in solar technology even though they currently do not work well enough outside the lab.“The big question is whether perovskite/silicon tandem cells will ever have the stability required to be commercially viable,” told CNBC Green.“Although progress has been made since the first perovskite cells were reported, the only published field data for such tandem cells with competitive efficiency suggest they would only survive a few months outdoors even when carefully encapsulated.”Will CubicPV be able to bypass this challenge and produce the tech the nation so desperately needs to make solar more viable and productive? Only time will tell. HomeInnovationAdd Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.Add Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.SHOW COMMENT (1) For You China flexes military muscle, drills 'carrier killer' missiles near US naval baseResearchers discover people are using the internet for sexForget electric planes: U.S. aviation can be decarbonized using grassMoonwalkers: These AI-powered shoes will have you walking 250% fasterCosmic rays reveal presence of 2,500-year-old hidden underground Greek settlementThe unfair floods of Pakistan: ‘Climate carnage’ or botched engineering?Groundbreaking study reveals strong and changeable magnetic field surrounding repeating fast radio burstThe COVID-19 vaccines are the very beginning of the mRNA revolutionAn American non-profit organization built the first 3D-printed school in MadagascarHard drive storage will soon become part of computing history, says expert More Stories cultureThe 'Sputnik Moment' upended the global order once, but won't do so againJohn Loeffler| 11/13/2022scienceRevolutionizing tsunami predictions: How an engineer's dose of AI could save livesSade Agard| 5/9/2023healthPower of empathy: How to recognize, understand and treat bipolar disorderTejasri Gururaj| 5/5/2023
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: solar
Declining costs and government encouragement have resulted in a rapid increase in solar energy production in the United States over the past 10 years, although solar’s share remains small: 1.6 percent of all electricity generation in 2018. That rapid growth is projected to continue.