There's a company in Europe, Saule Technologies [1], that is claiming to be already capable of large scale commercialization of perovskites. It seems you can even buy/license it (B2B).
The article seems to suggest that the biggest obstacle for market-readiness for this type of product is endurance. However, Saule on their FAQ website are claiming that their products have an initial lifetime of several years [2].
I also found this article from MIT Technology Review [3] where it's stated that
"Oxford PV, Microquanta, and Saule all say they’ve solved the stability issue, at least well enough to sell their first products."
So, who's right? Is the article overstating the stability problem or are these companies over-promising?
I follow Saule Technologies. They solve stability for few years. Great for Internet of Things such as price tag in shop. Competitor to batteries.
However this is not good enough when 25+ Years lifetime is required (residential or utility scale).
Another niche use case is quantum glass by ML System. Generate energy from windows. Great for IoT, smart windows, new buildings, cars, but energy density is fraction of typical PV panels.
Unless the product is very, very cheap and can be easily replaced periodically.
Just thinking aloud, but think about a (very, very) large (traditional) camera, you have this roll of film that you advance one frame at the time, and then expose to sunlight.
Once every - say - two or three years, when it doesn't produce anymore enough electricity, you advance one frame and once every (say) ten or twenty years, you change the film roll.
You could integrate solar stuff into structures. Then it probably has to be pretty long lived. This is because solar is getting cheap anyway and it doesn't cost much more to make a wall a solar panel while you're building a wall anyway - most of the cost of the panel is the supporting structure and installation anyway - which have to be there for the wall and are thus paid for already.
On the other hand maybe you can have flimsy solar stuff that's more like an umbrella or parasol or awning and could be replaced every few years. You could have it even leased. Return the old one for recycling. Maybe it's taken off during the winter entirely. It's dark in the winter anyway and it would be too expensive to make it so sturdy that it can handle snow. If it's destroyed by a storm, no big deal, get a new one.
We have a work bee twice per year where a lot of people from the condominium company trim bushes, fell trees, rake, pick up waste etc. Why not put up a few solar panels on top of the garages for the summer at the same time? And take them off in October then.
Monocrystalline silicon is the best option for long-lived electricity-generating purposes, but perovskites could have interesting industrial applications in particular solar hydrogen. In such systems you'd expect to have a production line replacing worn-out peroskites on a steady basis[1]
> Sure, a triangle of pizza is pizza and a triangle, but it could be topped with pepperoni and cheese, or maybe sausage, but pies have also been garnished with coconut, peanuts, and squid.
I'm seeing pallet loads of STC 360W rated silicon based (mono or poly) PV modules at $0.42/watt to $0.51/watt now, how much cheaper are we talking here?
Not to defeat your point, but $0.42/watt is considered a bit too expensive nowadays (unless, it includes shipping).
The regular price for monocrystalline silicon solar panels is around $0.21/watt on Alibaba ([1]), not including shipping from China (which may vary, depends on the volume, destination and current rates).
I was referring to single pallet prices (a very small quantity by modern standards) and from major reputable name brand manufacturers that have existed 10+ years... Yes there's lots of cheap panels available, but they're also scary if you've seen enough lamination and encapsulation failures.
cool. $0.37 is retail cost in india on the open market but there are absolutely no guarantees about the quality. fly by night is the game.
there is a scheme of the government who give subsidized solar water pumps at a installed price of $0.12/watt" for the solar panels, water pump, fixtures, wiring, instalation, labour, spares. i plan to "request" farmer friends to buy me 10-15Kwh worth of panels which i plan to install at my home
Promising tin based perovskite are being developed. This addresses the disposal issue. Also chemical stability is being addressed in many ways, some of which more promising than others. Single crystal perovskites are extremely promising because they lack the defects present in polycrystalline and these defects are usually the origin of chemical instability. Also 2D perovskites are another way to address chemical instability and currently have been steadily increasing in overall efficiency. Sorry I don’t have sources for u, I’m too lazy to get them cause I typed this on my phones… but good reviews on each of these topics are one google away!
Let’s not forget tandem cells that use both silicon and perovskite to achieve almost double the efficiency (~65%). It’s likely that the future of cheap energy could be the joint force of both of these amazing technologies.
So, who's right? Is the article overstating the stability problem or are these companies over-promising?
[1] - https://sauletech.com/technology/
[2] - https://sauletech.com/faq/
[3] - https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/06/29/1027451/perovski...