Development of silicon solar cells and photovoltaic modules in Brazil: analysis of a pilot production

Abstract

Brazil is a country that receives a large amount of solar radiation. Moreover, high quality quartz mines has been found in its territory and the country has well-established metallurgical grade silicon industries. However, PV technology is not used in large scale and there are no active solar cell fabs. In this context, a pilot plant to develop industrial PV technology was carried out in a Brazilian university combining education, research and industrial development. Silicon solar cell processes based on low cost chemicals and gases as well as gettering mechanisms were developed and more than 12,000 solar cells were fabricated, achieving efficiencies up to 16%, and two hundred photovoltaic modules were produced and characterized.

Use of SnOx:F in the Recycling of Silicon Solar Cells

“…The photovoltaic cells electrical behavior was investigated under light and employed as a tool to analyze the quality of the cells [11][12][13][14][15][16] . The efficiency of light intensity conversion into electricity is the key parameter in the photovoltaic cells characterization.…”

Electrical performance analysis of PV modules with bifacial silicon solar cells and white diffuse reflector

“…Two stand-alone systems were installed: one with the modules ModBifa connected in parallel and other with two standard modules with n + pp + monofacial cells, also connected in parallel. Standard modules were also fabricated at NT-Solar/PUCRS in a pilot plant that produced 12,000 n + pp + Cz-Si solar cells and 220 modules (Moehlecke and Zanesco, 2012). Since the dimensions of the bifacial and monofacial cells were the same, cell area was equal for both systems.…”

TiO2 Antireflection Coating Deposited by Electro-Beam Evaporation: Thin Film Thickness Effect on Weighted Reflectance and Surface Passivation of Silicon Solar Cells

“…In the last decades, most of solar cell industries used the n + pp + standard structure and front surface passivation based on silicon nitride (SiNx) deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The rear face was covered by a screen-printed Al thick film and with a thermal process, the back surface field (BSF) was formed 1,2 . To reach higher efficiencies, advanced structures like PERC (passivated emitter and rear cell) and PERT (passivated emitter rear totally diffused) 3,4 or TOPCon (tunnel oxide passivated contacts) 5 have been introduced in the production lines.…”