Pathways for solar photovoltaics

Solar energy is one of the few renewable, low-carbon resources with both the scalability and the technological maturity to meet ever-growing global demand for electricity. Among solar power technologies, solar photovoltaics (PV) are the most widely deployed, providing 0.87% of the world's elect...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy & environmental science 2015-01, Vol.8 (4), p.1200-1219
Main Authors: Jean, Joel, Brown, Patrick R, Jaffe, Robert L, Buonassisi, Tonio, Bulovic, Vladimir
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Classification
Complexity
Electricity
Photovoltaic cells
Research and development
Solar cells
Solar energy
Solar power generation
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Summary:Solar energy is one of the few renewable, low-carbon resources with both the scalability and the technological maturity to meet ever-growing global demand for electricity. Among solar power technologies, solar photovoltaics (PV) are the most widely deployed, providing 0.87% of the world's electricity in 2013 and sustaining a compound annual growth rate in cumulative installed capacity of 43% since 2000. Given the massive scale of deployment needed, this article examines potential limits to PV deployment at the terawatt scale, emphasizing constraints on the use of commodity and PV-critical materials. We propose material complexity as a guiding framework for classifying PV technologies, and we analyze three core themes that focus future research and development: efficiency, materials use, and manufacturing complexity and cost.
ISSN:1754-5692
1754-5706
DOI:10.1039/c4ee04073b