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 New study suggests that lab-grown meat produces up to 25 times more CO2Groundbreaking study reveals strong and changeable magnetic field surrounding repeating fast radio burstSelf-boosting vaccines: An MIT invention could solve one of healthcare's biggest problemsRice on Red Planet? Gene-edited variety could be grown on barren MarsFrom Gaza to NASA: Journey of an engineer who helped build Ingenuity Mars HelicopterA Brazilian non-profit shows how a GPS-powered app can end food wasteHard drive storage will soon become part of computing history, says expertCosmic rays reveal presence of 2,500-year-old hidden underground Greek settlementChina flexes military muscle, drills 'carrier killer' missiles near US naval baseParadise lost: How phosphate mining devastated island Nauru More Stories innovationA startup turns e-waste into solar lanterns to solve Nigeria’s frequent power outage problemBaba Tamim| 11/9/2022healthSelf-boosting vaccines: An MIT invention could solve one of healthcare's biggest problemsGrant Currin| 8/5/2022cultureMeet the accessibility advocate debugging the monochrome world for youBaba Tamim| 1/16/2023