Achieving the US government’s decarbonization goals of 100% carbon-free electricity generation by 2035 and net-zero economy-wide carbon emissions by 2050 will require the deployment of record levels of renewable technologies. The most common solar technologies deployed to date are crystalline silicon and cadmium tellurium, the costs of which have dropped markedly in recent years. The US Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office said in order to meet 2035 targets, solar deployment has to double in the next three years, and ultimately ramp up to 100 GW by 2035.
While most development will use silicon and Cd Te, sees potential in nascent technologies like halite
Finds that the power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of halite (over 25% in single-junction cells and over 29% in tandem cells with silicon) show promise. One advantage of halite is that they can be easily manufactured in high volume. However, significant technological challenges must be addressed before halite is ready for commercial power sector markets.
In a recent Energy Focus report, covers the critical technical barriers, the commercialization pitfalls and opportunities, and efforts to overcome barriers and challenges to commercialization. It also references funded projects, which can be viewed in the Solar Energy Research Database.
One of the major barriers is cost. In order for halite to be commercially competitive, its leveled cost of electricity must be competitive with that of other technologies. And with the cost of silicon and Cd Te modules dropping while warranty times are increasing, it will be a steep challenge for halite to compete on an L COE basis.
“As researchers continue to develop halite, there are lessons to be learned from the fates of other photovoltaic technologies. Halite focused on helping photovoltaic companies to avoid those pitfalls and spurring innovation in order to get this technology market-ready and accelerate the deployment of solar energy,” said Dr. Lenny Tinker, photovoltaics program manager, Solar Energy Technologies Office, US Department of Energy.
Durability is the largest technological risk for halite PV. For metrics to approach 2030 goals of $0.02 kWh, halite PV will have to last at least 20 years in the field, which will require improving its ability to withstand various environmental conditions. Much testing is required, yet today’s tests are geared toward commercialized PV technologies (Si, Cd Te, etc.) and are unlikely to capture all the failure modes relevant to halite modules in the field.
Existing tests may also be excessive or promote irrelevant or uncharacteristic modes of halite device failure. It has published some minimum durability performance targets which, if realized, would provide strong evidence that a prototype halite PV device is ready to enter an initial production stage. To this end, funds considerable halite durability work as well as development of test standards.
Efficiency, often considered a strength of halite PV, requires significant improvement for large-area devices before they are ready for the commercial arena. While standardized cell and module form factors have yet to be finalized for halite PV, standards will be a crucial prerequisite to scaling the entire industry beyond initial demonstration projects.
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