EE 339S

Introductory lecture on
photovoltaics
This presentation draws from
DOE Sunshot Vision Study

Sources
The DOE SunShot Vision Study provides
an in-depth assessment of the potential
for solar technologies to meet a significant
share of electricity demand in the United
States during the next several decades.
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/sunshot
/vision_study.html

Basic solar (PV) cell

Global Cumulative Installed

Capacity

 With at least 38.4

gigawatts (GW) of
newly-installed solar
photovoltaic (PV)
capacity
worldwide and a
global cumulative
installed capacity of
138.9 GW, 2013 was
another historic
year for solar PV
technology.

Near Term Trends (Cumulative,

worldwide PV Capacity)

Overall Picture (EU)

Importance of storage

In the SunShot scenario, solar generation meets about 14% of U.S. electricity
demand by 2030 (11% PV, 3% CSP) and 27% of demand by 2050 (19% PV, 8%
CSP). About two-thirds of PV generation is from utility-scale ground-mounted
systems,17 and the remainder is from rooftop PV systems.

At least 38.4 GW of PV systems were installed globally in 2013, up from 30 GW in 2012; PV

remains, after hydro and wind power, the third most important renewable energy source in
terms
of globally installed capacity
Almost 11 GW of PV capacity were connected to the grid in Europe in 2013, compared to
17.7 GW in 2012 and more than 22.4 GW in 2011
For the first time since 2003 Europe lost its leadership to Asia in terms of new installations
China was the top market in 2013 with 11.8 GW of which 500 MW represent off-grid
systems.
China was followed by Japan with
6.9 GW and the USA with 4.8 GW.
Germany was the top European market with 3.3 GW. Several other European markets
exceeded
the one GW mark: the UK (1.5 GW), Italy (1.4 GW), Romania (1.1 GW) and Greece (1.04
GW)
Outside Europe, several markets continued to grow at a reasonable pace: India with 1,115
MW, Korea with 442 MW, Thailand with 317 MW, Canada with 444 MW and many others

Grid parity to reach 36 states in 2016

(Deutsche Bank): Now in 10 states

BOS: Balance of system

LCOE: Levelized cost of energy

 Solar is real now

Investment in policy and R&D equal priorities
Need to drastically cut the time from lab-bench
discovery to manufacturing
Overall investment in science and technology
has to be increased (balance, workforce . . .)

By the end of 2010, thin-film technology accounted for 13% of global PV

shipments (3% a-Si, 8% CdTe, and 2% CIGS). The United States was
responsible for 18% of global CdTe and 20% of global a-Si shipments in 2010
(Mints 2011a). The

rest was Si (crystalline and poly)

OOrganic PV

The organic thin-film PV cell that was manuf

actured at Mitsubishi Chemical's pilot plant
by using a roll-to-roll (R2R) method
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp announced that
the conversion efficiency of its organic thinfilm photovoltaic (PV) cell has reached
11.0%. (June 2012)

Solar Cell Materials

Technologies

Crystalline Si
Poly Si
a-Si/microcrystalline Si
GaAs/III-V Semiconductor
CdTe
CIGS
Organics