Researchers in the Middle East claim to have identified the optimal parameters for the commercial production of perovskite-silicon tandem solar modules across several locations. Their analysis showed that manufacturing costs may currently be as low as $0.387/W, with the prospect of reaching $0.25/W in seven years.
Researchers at the Middle Technical University in Iraq have assessed the economic viability of manufacturing perovskite-silicon tandem PV products and have identified what they defined as the optimal parameters for future production scenarios.
The scientists claimed that their work provides an “end-to-end” approach for the improvement of perovskite-silicon tandem solar technology, both at the research and industrial levels, in an effort to reduce the gap between current high lab-level efficiencies and commercial production.
“The systems approach has incorporated three essential fronts: architectural component, optimization of manufacturing process, and assessing performance in deployment,” they explained, adding that physical principles are combined with particle swarm optimization (PSO) to provide information on commercialization while considering the surrounding environmental factors for the region of interest.
The PSO algorithm is a bio-inspired optimization algorithm that capitalizes on the high speed of quantum computing and reduces the interval of random numbers in subsequent stages to avoid premature convergence. It mimics the real rules of the bird flock’s foraging and is often used in
The analysis took into account several factors such as the thickness of the perovskite layer in the top cell, coating speed and annealing temperature, among others, to calculate production yield, defect rate and production costs with the integration of PSO reportedly enabling systematic exploration of manufacturing trade-offs.
In the following step, the academics conducted multistage modeling, connecting manufacturing parameters to deployment economics. They considered scaling up a 5 MW pilot module production line to 100 MW. “Through this integrated analysis framework, we quantitatively linked manufacturing process parameters, production economics, and location-based performance indicators,” they explained.
As optimal parameters, the PSO algorithm identified a coating speed optimized at 10.00 m/min, annealing temperature controlled at 151.48 C, and perovskite thickness optimized at 0.79 μm, which would reflect in a “high” production yield of 79.9% and a commercial production with an “acceptable” defect rate of 10.3%.
“Starting from the 79.9 % baseline yield that has been optimized, the production process demonstrates consistent and high improvement to reach the 92 % target yield within just 13 months of process optimization,” the research team emphasized, noting that manufacturing costs may currently be as low as $0.387/W, with prospects of reaching $0.25/W in seven years.
The lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for PV projects built with perovskite-silicon tandem modules was identified in the Mojave Desert, in the United States, at $0.061/kWh.
The work was detailed in “Affordable efficiency gains integrating perovskite-silicon tandems in next-generation photovoltaic systems,” published in Results in Engineering.
“Our simulation results were validated against National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) benchmark data, confirming the model’s reliability and practical relevance for commercial implementation planning,” the scientists concluded. “This work, therefore, sets the stage for affordable and high-efficiency photovoltaic systems through systematic optimization of manufacturing processes and deployment conditions.”