Status, Trends, Challenges and the Bright Future of Solar Electricity from Photovoltaics

Hegedus, Steven; Ĺuque, A.

doi:10.1002/0470014008.ch1

Cited by 38 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…As the names suggest, monocrystalline silicon (mono‐Si) PV cells are made from wafers cut from an ingot of single crystalline silicon and multicrystalline silicon (multi‐Si) PV cells are made from wafers containing many different crystals of silicon. Mono‐Si cells typically have higher efficiencies and higher manufacturing costs than multi‐Si cells (Hegedus and Luque 2003). Although c‐Si PV electricity generation is generally accepted as an improvement over fossil fuel technologies with regard to GHG emissions, published scientific literature reports considerable variance in the estimates of life cycle GHG emissions for c‐Si PV per unit of electricity generated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Electricity Generation

Hsu

O’Donoughue²,

Fthenakis

et al. 2012

J of Industrial Ecology

231

158

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Key words:global warming industrial ecology renewable energy life cycle assessment (LCA) meta-analysis solar Supporting information is available on the JIE Web site SummaryPublished scientific literature contains many studies estimating life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of residential and utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PVs). Despite the volume of published work, variability in results hinders generalized conclusions. Most variance between studies can be attributed to differences in methods and assumptions. To clarify the published results for use in decision making and other analyses, we conduct a metaanalysis of existing studies, harmonizing key performance characteristics to produce more comparable and consistently derived results.Screening 397 life cycle assessments (LCAs) relevant to PVs yielded 13 studies on crystalline silicon (c-Si) that met minimum standards of quality, transparency, and relevance. Prior to harmonization, the median of 42 estimates of life cycle GHG emissions from those 13 LCAs was 57 grams carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour (g CO 2 -eq/kWh), with an interquartile range (IQR) of 44 to 73. After harmonizing key performance characteristics (irradiation of 1,700 kilowatt-hours per square meter per year (kWh/m 2 /yr); system lifetime of 30 years; module efficiency of 13.2% or 14.0%, depending on module type; and a performance ratio of 0.75 or 0.80, depending on installation, the median estimate decreased to 45 and the IQR tightened to 39 to 49. The median estimate and variability were reduced compared to published estimates mainly because of higher average assumptions for irradiation and system lifetime.For the sample of studies evaluated, harmonization effectively reduced variability, providing a clearer synopsis of the life cycle GHG emissions from c-Si PVs. The literature used in this harmonization neither covers all possible c-Si installations nor represents the distribution of deployed or manufactured c-Si PVs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Electricity Generation

Hsu

O’Donoughue²,

Fthenakis

et al. 2012

J of Industrial Ecology

231

158

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“…Solar cells are much larger than conventional microchip scale technologies. Furthermore, with the rise of thin film technologies, and subsequent industrial style large scale fabrication processes, such as roll to roll processing, the size of photovoltaic units has increased even further [2,3,16]. Therefore, even though photonic engineering concepts do significantly improve upon the light trapping capacity of solar cells, it is increasingly challenging for these concepts to find widespread applications.…”

Section: Back Reflector Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At present, there is a constant drive to make PV competitive with other power production technologies, i.e., to reduce final costs to less than 1 $/Watt [2,3]. This is where the world of thin film OPEN ACCESS solar cells (TFSC) comes to into play.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid Dielectric-Metallic Back Reflector for Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells

et al. 2010

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Abstract:In this paper, we present the design and fabrication of hybrid dielectric-metallic back surface reflectors, for applications in thin film amorphous silicon solar cells. Standard multilayer distributed Bragg reflectors, require a large number of layers in order to achieve high reflectance characteristics. As it turns out, the addition of a metallic layer, to the base of such a multilayer mirror, enables a reduction in the number of dielectric layers needed to attain high reflectance performance. This paper explores the design, experimental realization and opportunities, in thin film amorphous silicon solar cells, afforded by such hybrid dielectric-metallic back surface reflectors.

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“…1. The best single crystalline silicon solar cell has reached a PCE of 25% with typically module PCE about 15-18% [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid solar cells of conjugated polymers metal-oxide nanocrystals blends; state of the art and future research challenges in Indonesia

Bahtiar¹

2013

AIP Conference Proceedings

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Status, Trends, Challenges and the Bright Future of Solar Electricity from Photovoltaics

Cited by 38 publications

References 51 publications

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Electricity Generation

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Electricity Generation

Hybrid Dielectric-Metallic Back Reflector for Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells

Hybrid solar cells of conjugated polymers metal-oxide nanocrystals blends; state of the art and future research challenges in Indonesia

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