The primary driver for development of organic photovoltaic (OPV) technologies is the prospect of very low cost module manufacture leading to affordable solar electricity. This paper presents an economic assessment of OPV based on an existing pre-industrial manufacturing process and the associated detailed material inventory. Using life cycle costing techniques, the life cycle investment cost for a 1kW p , grid-connected OPV system is calculated, taking into account the materials, direct process energy, labour, balance of system components, design and maintenance costs. Assuming values for the performance ratio of the PV system, insolation level, inflation and interest rates, the levelised electricity cost (LEC) is calculated. Under an average solar irradiance of 1700 kWh/m 2 /year, typical of southern Europe, a LEC of between 0.19 V/kWh and 0.50 V/kWh was calculated for a 1kW p system, based on modules containing 7% efficient cells and assuming a 5 year module lifetime. The OPV module is found to make up the majority of the system cost while the material costs constitute the largest contribution to the cost of the OPV module. The influence of OPV module lifetime is studied using sensitivity. This paper demonstrates that competitive solar electricity from OPV is within reach if efficiencies of ca. 7% already demonstrated in lab scale devices can be achieved in large area modules and if lifetimes of at least 5 years can be achieved.
The effect of substituting lead with tin in perovskite‐based solar cells (PSCs) has shows that lead is preferred over tin by a lower cumulative energy demand. The results, which also include end‐of‐life management, show that a recycling scenario that carefully handles emission of lead enables use of lead in PSCs with little environmental impact. All other scenarios result in catastrophic emission of lead to the environment that would spell an end to widespread use of lead in PSCs.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.