Materials Availability Expands the Opportunity for Large-Scale Photovoltaics Deployment

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• 作者：Cyrus Wadia^† ; ^‡ ; ; A. Paul Alivisatos^‡ ; ^§ ; ; Daniel M. Kammen*^† ; ^#
• 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
• 出版年：2009
• 出版时间：March 15, 2009
• 年：2009
• 卷：43
• 期：6
• 页码：2072-2077
• 全文大小：296K
• 年卷期：v.43,no.6(March 15, 2009)
• ISSN：1520-5851

文摘

Solar photovoltaics have great promise for a low-carbon future but remain expensive relative to other technologies. Greatly increased penetration of photovoltaics into global energy markets requires an expansion in attention from designs of high-performance to those that can deliver significantly lower cost per kilowatt-hour. To evaluate a new set of technical and economic performance targets, we examine material extraction costs and supply constraints for 23 promising semiconducting materials. Twelve composite materials systems were found to have the capacity to meet or exceed the annual worldwide electricity consumption of 17000 TWh, of which nine have the potential for a significant cost reduction over crystalline silicon. We identify a large material extraction cost (cents/watt) gap between leading thin film materials and a number of unconventional solar cell candidates including FeS₂, CuO, and Zn₃P₂. We find that devices performing below 10% power conversion efficiencies deliver the same lifetime energy output as those above 20% when a 3/4 material reduction is achieved. Here, we develop a roadmap emphasizing low-cost alternatives that could become a dominant new approach for photovoltaics research and deployment.