On September 28, more than 200 experts, scholars, industry leaders and media reporters from all over the world gathered in the ancient city of Suzhou to attend the 2019 Global Perovskite PV Technology and Industrialization Forum held at the GCL Energy Center to discuss the “perovskite technology revolution” and market application.

 

Zhu Gongshan sends a congratulatory letter to the forum

 

Zhu Gongshan, chairman of the Global Green Energy Council, co-chairman of the Global Solar Energy Council and chairman of the Asian Photovoltaic Industry Association, sent a congratulatory letter to the forum, extending sincere welcome and cordial greetings to the guests, and wishing the forum a complete success.

 

The event was co-sponsored by Shanghai Solar Energy Society, China PV Industry Leading Forum and GCL Group, and hosted by GCL Suzhou Nanotechnology Co., Ltd (GCL Nano), with technical support from China Quality Certification Center and Canadian Standards Association. The forum invited perovskite cell research institutes, PV cell and module manufacturers, suppliers of key equipment and supporting materials, third-party testing and certification agencies, analysis and consultation agencies, end-user representatives, and experts from all over the world to discuss the technology, market, R&D, development trend and all links of the perovskite cell industry.

 

At the forum, Shen Wenzhong, chairman of Shanghai Solar Energy Society and chairman of the Expert Committee of China PV Industry Leading Forum, delivered a speech on behalf of the sponsors. He analyzed and prospected the development of perovskite cell industry, and expressed his heartfelt thanks to GCL Group for its great support.

 

Zhu pointed out in his congratulatory letter that with the joint efforts of all people in the industry, China's PV industry has developed into one of the country’s “business cards”. Technological innovation drives the industry to realize technological upgrading, product iteration, application innovation, clean energy substitution, and unsubsidized grid-connected power generation, he remarked. With the coming of a new round of PV technology and application revolution, perovskite PV technology will represent the future of PV technology thanks to many of its advantages, and the exploration of its technology and industrialization will have positive, profound and epoch-making significance for conquering the major obstacles to the development of the industry, he concluded.

 

GCL achieves breakthrough progress in perovskite technology

 

At the sharing session of the forum, Fan Bin, general manager of GCL Nano., made a keynote speech titled "Perovskite Technology R&D and Industrialization Progress of GCL Nano". He introduced in detail a series of breakthrough achievements and industrialization progress of the company in perovskite PV module technology, which aroused strong interest and enthusiastic response from the audience.

 

Experts pointed out that perovskite technology is currently the most attractive emerging PV technology in the world. In the past, almost all kinds of PV cell technology, module technology and production equipment were developed or manufactured in foreign countries before being introduced into China for domestic production. However, the entire perovskite technology, ranging from material, equipment to production process, is the first PV technology independently developed by a Chinese enterprise. The successful development of large-area perovskite module production technology marks that the role of China's PV industry has changed from an industry follower to an industry leader. Just in a short span of 10 years since perovskite material was first applied to PV power generation in 2009, its laboratory efficiency has increased from 3.8% to 25.2%, and there is still great potential for efficiency improvement in the future.

 

As a leading technology-based comprehensive energy enterprise that focuses on new and clean energy with diversified development of related industries, GCL has made a series of breakthroughs in perovskite PV module technology. GCL Nano has built a pilot production line of 10MW large-area perovskite modules, completed the synthesis of related materials and the development of manufacturing processes, and started the construction of a 100MW mass production line. The commercial production of perovskite PV modules is just around the corner. Attracting industry-wide attention, this major achievement may be a crucial step in full-scale PV popularization, experts say.

 

In August 2019, the large-area perovskite PV module manufactured by GCL Nano successfully passed the power test by TüV Rheinland Group (TüV), globally the most authoritative third-party certification institution based in Germany. The module’s effective area is 1300 square centimeters, and the conversion efficiency in the effective area reaches 13.48%. The test results not only show that GCL Nano has taken a solid step towards the industrialization of perovskite modules, but also prove that TüV’s solution is effective for testing the module. At present, the efficiency of GCL Nano’s perovskite module has been further improved to 16.4%

 

Perovskite may become the mainstream PV technology with the highest efficiency and lowest cost

 

Compared with traditional crystalline silicon technology, perovskite technology has several significant advantages.

 

First of all, perovskite is a synthetic crystal material, the formula of which can be adjusted or iterated at any time to improve its properties and reduce manufacturing cost. In contrast, crystalline silicon materials cannot be adjusted, except for the purification process. Secondly, perovskite is insensitive to impurities. In most cases, perovskite materials with a purity of about 90% can be used to manufacture solar cells with an efficiency of more than 20%. In comparison, crystalline silicon is very sensitive to impurities, and its purity must reach 99.9999% before it can be used to manufacture solar cells. Such a high purity requirement leads to a high manufacturing cost of course.

 

Perovskite's light absorption ability far exceeds that of crystalline silicon, experts say. The silicon wafer in the crystalline silicon solar cell is usually 160 to 180 microns thick, while the thickness of the perovskite layer in the perovskite solar cell is only 0.3 micron. A crystalline silicon module composed of 60 silicon wafers consumes about 1 kilogram of silicon material, while a perovskite module of the same size consumes only 2 grams of perovskite material.

 

Moreover, since perovskite can be dissolved in ordinary solvents, perovskite modules can be produced by means of solution coating at a temperature of less than 150°C. In contrast, the ingoting and pulling process of crystalline silicon materials must be carried out at a temperature of above 1500°C, which means huge energy consumption.

 

Industry experts believe that the laboratory efficiency of perovskite solar cells will surpass that of monocrystalline silicon solar cells in three years. In view of the high cost of gallium arsenide (iii-v) solar cells (hundreds to thousands of times as much as crystalline silicon cells), it seems unlikely for them to be widely popularized. So, perovskite will be the mainstream PV technology with the highest efficiency and the lowest cost.

 

Experts: Perovskite technology will make unsubsidized grid-connected PV power generation possible

 

At the Forum, seven well-known experts in the industry, including Professor Yin Wanjian, Soochow Institute for Energy and Materials Innovations, Professor Zhou Yong, Kunshan Innovation Institute of Nanjing University, and senior research fellow Ma Changqi, Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, shared technical issues such as perovskite material design and performance optimization, precision measurement of batteries, etc. Four enterprise representatives including Shi Lei, chairman of Hangzhou Zhongneng Optoelectronic Technology Co., Ltd., introduced their R&D and industrialization progress, and interacted with the guests.

 

In the high-level dialog session that followed, seven industry representatives from enterprises, universities and scientific research institutions, including Fan Bin and Zhou Yong, brainstormed on the topic of " Perovskite: Most Recent Innovations and Changes" in a lively atmosphere. The scene was full of witty remarks, golden sentences, and creative ideas.

 

All experts agree that the significance of perovskite technology is self-evident at a time when unsubsidized grid-connected PV power generation has become the top priority in the industry. GCL’s huge investment and outstanding achievements in the development and industrialized application of perovskite technology are obvious to all and have constituted major contributions to the full-scale commercialization of PV power, they say.

 

During the Forum, guests also visited the perovskite production line of GCL Nano.

 

Perovskite

 

Perovskite is a kind of material with the same crystal structure as calcium titanate (CaTiO3). It is cubic or octahedral in shape, with a metallic luster and a light to brown color. Perovskite is not a specific compound containing calcium and titanium, but a generic term for a class of crystalline materials with an ABX3 structure. Perovskite technology is currently the most attractive emerging PV technology in the world, very likely to become the mainstream PV technology with the highest efficiency and lowest cost in the future.