EU-funded project seeks set up pilot production of large-area perovskite PV modules

The EU-funded Laperitivo project, focused on manufacturing large-area stable perovskite solar modules, began earlier this month. At the launch meeting in Genk, Belgium, representatives from 22 global partners shared their initial insights.

“Perovskite PV is recognized as a promising next-generation PV technology, and in the last few years, rapid progress has been made in initial efficiency and stability,” project coordinator Yinghuan Kuang told pv magazine. “However, most work was done at a small laboratory scale, typically ≤1 cm. Scalability using industrial processes is keen to commercialize this PV technology, yet it is very challenging. Transferring the high-performing small-scale cell stack to pilot-scale production and eventually to large-scale mass production with minimized losses is one of the key objectives of this project.”

Laperitivo stands for “large-area perovskite solar module manufacturing with high efficiency, long-term stability, and low environmental impact.” The project aims to achieve 22% efficiency for 900 cm² opaque panels and 20% for semi-transparent modules with more than 95% bifaciality.

“Key research activities include the deposition of high-quality perovskite films as well as contacting layers over large substrate area using industrially viable techniques,” says the abstract of the project’s EU funding paper. “Indoor and outdoor field tests will be performed to monitor module reliability. Safety, circularity, and sustainability will be assessed to demonstrate products with minimized environmental impact.”

The researchers plan to apply the semi-transparent modules to perovskite/silicon four-terminal tandem modules and agrivoltaic panels. They will also explore a 200 MW pilot line and aim for a 5 GW production capacity in Europe.

“Some key hurdles we expect to encounter deal with how to minimize the upscaling loss. This requires optimization of the uniform deposition of materials over a large substrate area, including the perovskite light absorber layer with a thickness in the range of 500-700 nanometers and the interlayers for interface passivation and charge collection. In addition, we need to minimize the impact of laser scribing for the module interconnection,” said Kuang. “Another challenge is improving the long-term stability for outdoor field tests, and dealing with the sustainability and recyclability of such packed perovskite solar modules.”