Europe's FULLSPECTRUM project breaks solar power conversion record

Nov. 24, 2008

November 24, 2008 -- Scientists at FULLSPECTRUM, an integrated project involving seven European Union member states plus Russia and Switzerland, say they have developed photovoltaic (PV) multi-junction (MJ) solar cells able to convert 39.7% of the sun's energy into electricity -- a record in Europe. MJ cells are expensive, but FULLSPECTRUM keeps costs low by using lenses to focus the solar energy to >1000 times natural power flux.

The main barrier to large-scale deployment of PV systems is the high production cost of electricity, due to the significant capital investment costs. Researchers are working to reduce manufacturing costs and increase solar-cell efficiency. Conventional PV cells, made of silicon, are able to convert a much smaller fraction of the solar light spectrum.

The FULLSPECTRUM project team says its multi-junction solar cells are able to catch more sun light energy because they are composed of different materials, including gallium, phosphorus, indium and germanium. These multi-junction solar cells are expensive and have only been used for applications in space. However, the cost can be considerably reduced by arranging them in special panels that include lenses able to focus a large amount of solar energy onto the cells. These concentrators can reach far above 1000 times the natural solar power flux and have also been the object of the project research.

FULLSPECTRUM, an integrated project involving 19 European public and industrial research centers. It is financed by the European Commission and coordinated by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Instituto de Energía Solar. It started in November 2003 with an overall budget of 14.7 million Euros of which the European Commission financed 8.4 million.

The European Commission has spent more than 105 million Euros in research on photovoltaic energy since the start of Framework Programme 6 in 2002. Many of the projects are trying to drive down costs of silicon solar cells.

Energy research is constituent of the European Union Energy and Climate Package. One of its ambitious targets for 2020 is to increase by up to 20% the level of renewable energy in the EU's overall final energy consumption. To reach this goal the European Commission started the Strategic Energy Technology (SET)-Plan.

The Solar Europe Industrial Initiative as part of the SET-Plan has recently elevated its target for the participation of photovoltaics in the European electricity demand by 2020 from 3% to 12%. This can be translated into installing from 350 up to 400 GW P (Gigawatt of peak capacity) in photovoltaics, corresponding to an average growth of ~40% per year from today's situation.

Back in 2006, the total installed capacity of PV systems in the EU was 3.4 GW P, representing approximately 0.5% of the total EU electrical capacity. The electricity generated by PV was approximately 2.5 TWh (Terawatthour), or 0.1% of the demand. The annual installations of PV systems in 2006 in the EU reached 1250 Megawatts.

For more information on FULLSPECTRUM, see the project website..