Review of life cycle analyses and embodied energy requirements of single-crystalline and multi-crystalline silicon photovoltaic systems

Wong, Johanna; Royapoor, Mohammad; Chan, Coreina

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.241

Cited by 88 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…It is well established that power from solar PV has a low global warming potential (GWP) as demonstrated by numerous life cycle assessment (LCA) studies . These estimates are summarized in Table .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is well establishedt hat power from solar PV has al ow global warming potential (GWP)a sd emonstrated by numerous life cycle assessment( LCA) studies. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] These estimates are summarized in Table 1. As shown, the most widespread PV technologies-those based on crystalline silicon-have a mean GWP of 53 gC O 2 eq.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Summary of GWP estimatesf or solar PV technologies as reported in the literature. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] [20] However, as with most of the studies referred to above,t his analysis only considered greenhouse gas emissions and energy use,o mitting other environmental impacts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental Impacts of Photovoltaics: The Effects of Technological Improvements and Transfer of Manufacturing from Europe to China

Stamford

Azapagic

2018

Energy Tech

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Solar power deployment is expanding rapidly alongside improvements in manufacturing processes and solar technology performance. This expansion has coincided with great cost reductions and a shift in manufacturing to China, but the environmental effects of these developments remain unclear. This study uses life cycle assessment (LCA) to estimate the environmental impacts for silicon‐based photovoltaic (PV) systems installed in two locations—the United Kingdom (UK) and Spain—in the years 2005 and 2015 to assess the changes that have occurred in the past decade. Manufacturing is considered in both Europe and China to analyze the effects of the aforementioned market shift. The results show that technological improvements have reduced the environmental impacts by an average of 45 %, ranging from 29 % (eutrophication) to 80 % (ozone layer depletion); the carbon footprint has been approximately cut in half. However, the shift of manufacturing to China has increased environmental impacts by an average of 9–13 % relative to manufacturing in Europe. Acidification is much higher for Chinese‐made systems, negating all of the technological progress that has been made over the past decade. Thus, the future impacts of PV are highly dependent upon environmental improvements in the Chinese energy mix. Learning rates for environmental impacts are estimated at 6–26 %, thereby leading to expected impact reductions of 8–34 % by the year 2025, which would bring the impacts of Chinese‐made PV systems back down to the levels currently achieved by systems made in Europe.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental Impacts of Photovoltaics: The Effects of Technological Improvements and Transfer of Manufacturing from Europe to China

Stamford

Azapagic

2018

Energy Tech

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“…While Czochralski silicon (Cz‐Si) provides high lifetimes and is therefore the natural choice for PERC cells, the Cz process is slower and more energy‐intensive than casting of multi‐crystalline Si (mc‐Si) . This results in potentially shorter energy payback times and lower cost per watt with cast Si.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light‐induced degradation in quasi‐monocrystalline silicon PERC solar cells: Indications on involvement of copper

Vahlman¹,

Wagner²,

Wolny³

et al. 2017

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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High-efficiency solar cell designs such as the passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) raise the quality requirements for silicon substrates, favoring monocrystalline materials. Seedcast quasi-monocrystalline silicon (qm-Si) is a promising alternative for Czochralski (Cz) Si with potential benefits of lower cost and reduced energy footprint. However, the purity and crystalline quality of qm-Si is not on par with Cz-Si, which can cause efficiency losses for example in the form of light-induced degradation (LID). In this contribution, we study the LID phenomena that can be present in qm-Si PERC solar cells, and compare them to the Cz-Si PERC. Degradation and regeneration are analyzed especially from the viewpoint of Cu impurity, which has until very recently been omitted as a source of LID for this device type. Subsequently, differences in LID behavior between qm-Si and Cz-Si are investigated considering the density of dislocations in the bulk. The results imply that slurry-based wafer slicing may introduce contamination that is capable of causing considerable LID in PERC devices fabricated of Si with inherently high defect density.

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“…It is estimated that between 2699 and 5150 MJ/m 2 is required for the production of multi-Si modules (Wong et al, 2016). For the analysis in this study, the data used to conduct the LCA are listed in Table 4.…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessment (Lca)mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Technical, Economic and Environmental Evaluation Study of Utilising Fixed, Single and Dual-Axis Solar Photovoltaic Systems in Boubyan and Failaka Islands in Kuwait

AL-Rashidi¹

2019

American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences

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Implementing renewable energy technologies, such as solar energy, is an important step towards meeting the increasing demand for electricity in Kuwait. This would be a very helpful way of minimising the negative environmental impacts of conventional power plants. This study reports on the results of a comprehensive technical, environmental and economic evaluation of the use of a grid-connected solar photovoltaic system to generate electricity at Boubyan and Failaka islands in Kuwait. The study also evaluated the effects of using single and dual-axis tracking systems. The results showed that the obtained performance parameters are excellent and fall within the standard reference ranges of the solar photovoltaic systems. The use of tracking systems is highly beneficial and energy production increased by approximately 26% and 31% respectively as a result of implementing single and dual-axis tracking systems. The computed levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) results were $0.076 /kWh, $0.064 /kWh and $0.066 /kWh respectively for fixed, single and dual-axis tracking systems. These obtained values are less than the LCOE of the conventional Kuwaiti power plants, therefore making the proposed systems economically feasible. In addition, the results revealed that single-axis tracking systems are the best option. Life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis shows that the annual energy payback time (EPBT) results obtained in this paper were 1.84, 1.46 and 1.41 years respectively. The average total CO2 emission rate was 49.58 CO2, eq/kWh, 39.25 CO2, eq/kWh and 37.84 CO2, eq/kWh for single and dual-axis tracking systems respectively.

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Review of life cycle analyses and embodied energy requirements of single-crystalline and multi-crystalline silicon photovoltaic systems

Cited by 88 publications

References 37 publications

Environmental Impacts of Photovoltaics: The Effects of Technological Improvements and Transfer of Manufacturing from Europe to China

Environmental Impacts of Photovoltaics: The Effects of Technological Improvements and Transfer of Manufacturing from Europe to China

Light‐induced degradation in quasi‐monocrystalline silicon PERC solar cells: Indications on involvement of copper

A Technical, Economic and Environmental Evaluation Study of Utilising Fixed, Single and Dual-Axis Solar Photovoltaic Systems in Boubyan and Failaka Islands in Kuwait

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