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　　What's the next technological breakthrough in solar panels?

　　According to China.com, at present, although the cost of solar energy has been significantly reduced with the continuous updating of technology, it is still more expensive than fossil energy. In addition, despite the proliferation of solar panels and even oversupply, the solar panel manufacturing industry is still at a low ebb. However, although the innovation momentum in the solar energy market has weakened, there are still many research developments being released. Overall, industry insiders remain optimistic about the long-term development of the solar industry.

　　Flexible solar cells created on glass

　　Traditional solar cells still focus on crystalline silicon technology. A few years ago, silicon solar panels cost $4/watt. One of the leaders in this research field, Professor Martin Green of the University of New South Wales in Australia, once declared that the cost of silicon solar panels can never be lower than $1/watt. But now, he said: the cost has dropped to about 50 cents/watt, and may drop to 36 cents/watt.

　　The U.S. Department of Energy has set a goal of less than 1 cent/watt by 2020. This goal does not only refer to the cost of solar panels, but to the entire solar panel installation system. Green believes the solar industry has the potential to accomplish this goal ahead of schedule. By then, the direct cost of solar energy is expected to drop to 6 cents/kWh, which is lower than the energy supply cost of new natural gas power plants. The total cost of solar power will of course be higher because it includes the cost of facilities built to compensate for the intermittent nature of sunlight, but exactly how much higher depends on factors such as how much solar power is on the grid.

　　Organizations across the silicon solar industry are constantly looking for ways to cut costs and increase the energy output of solar panels. In the 1990s, Green's lab produced a solar cell with a record-breaking conversion rate, a record that still stands today. To achieve this record of conversion, Green had to use expensive lithography techniques to create fine wires to collect the electrical current provided by the solar cells. But steady advances in technology allow scientists to now create fine wires using screen printing. Recent research has shown that screen printing can create wires just 30 microns wide, about the same width as a Green wire, but at a much lower cost.

　　Green said this technology, combined with other technologies, could make it cheaper and easier to replicate his high-efficiency solar cells on production lines. Companies have developed technology for manufacturing front-end metal contacts of solar cells. However, the design of back-end electronic contacts is more difficult, but he hopes that some companies can figure out a way.

　　Coincidentally, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has created a flexible solar cell on a new type of glass: ultra-thin, highly curved glass made by Corning. The thin-film cadmium telluride solar cell they created is currently the only solar cell that can compete with traditional silicon solar cells in mass production. Currently, such solar cells can only be made in batches (the same goes for silicon solar cells), but being able to make them on a piece of bendable glass opens up the possibility that they can be manufactured roll-to-roll on a continuous basis. way to produce it (just like printing a newspaper), thus reducing costs by increasing production.

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