A solar energy generation technology once considered limited in its potential is poised for significant growth in the United States.
That’s the conclusion of a team of scientists who analyzed the prospects for cadmium telluride solar photovoltaics in research published in the peer-reviewed journal Joule.
Physicists from the University of Toledo, including Dr. Michael Heben, a distinguished university professor and McMaster chair and director of the Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization, collaborated with partners from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratory of the Rockies, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Colorado State University, Sivananthan Labs and First Solar under the umbrella of the Department of Energy’s Cadmium Telluride Accelerator Consortium.
Their analysis raises challenges and associated research goals that, according to the team of scientists, will take this technology to a production capacity of 100 gigawatts by 2030.
“There are many benefits to cadmium telluride,” Heben said. “They perform better in hot and humid climates than the silicon photovoltaics that currently dominate the industry, and because their manufacturing process uses domestic supply chains, they are less sensitive to import restrictions while supporting national energy security.”
Cadmium telluride photovoltaics are a category of thin-film solar cells that have long shown promise as a reliable, low-cost, and highly efficient alternative to the crystalline silicon modules that currently dominate the global solar industry.
Cadmium telluride solar cells are the only other solar photovoltaics produced at the gigawatt scale and enjoy a special niche in utility-scale applications. But relatively lower energy conversion efficiency and supply chain challenges have limited their share of the total solar generation portfolio in the United States to about 16%.
UToledo is deeply involved in the research and development of cadmium telluride solar cells through its Wright Center, where the pioneering work of physicists in these and other thin-film photovoltaic technologies is largely responsible for UToledo’s ranking in the top quarter of global universities in materials science by U.S. News and World Report.
First Solar, the world’s largest manufacturer of cadmium telluride solar panels with a large presence in northwest Ohio, traces its roots to early work completed in campus labs in the 1980s.
The Joule research argues for significant growth potential in cadmium telluride solar photovoltaics, taking into account factors such as economic policies that promote domestic production and technological advances that improve energy conversion efficiency.
“Cadmium telluride has much more room to grow in performance compared to silicon,” Heben said. “The technology is very reliable and predictable, while energy conversion efficiency is continuously improving.”
Scientists are also concerned with technological and supply chain developments related to the element tellurium. They credit technological advances with allowing more efficient extraction and utilization of this mining byproduct, and they cite economic and industry data to show that its availability is not proving to be the limiting growth factor manufacturers once predicted.
All this leads to promising prospects for cadmium telluride photovoltaics.
“This research is essentially a roadmap for the continued growth and expansion of this technology,” said Heben.
Research report:Roadmap to 100 GWDC: Scientific and Supply Chain Challenges for CdTe Photovoltaics
