Cost Reduction and Yield Increase of Solar Cells

• Country: Netherlands
• Summary: Cost Reduction and Yield Increase of Solar Cells
• NLT Ref No: 97359313
• Deadline: 02 Apr 2024
• Financier: Other Funding Agencies
• Purchaser Ownership: Government
• Tender Value: Refer Document
• Notice Type: Tender
• Document Ref. No.: 1-12132
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• Description:
• Tenders are invited for Cost Reduction and Yield Increase of Solar Cells. Open Date: 20/02/2024 12:10 CET Closing Date: 02/04/2024 13:00 CET Price Range: 500 KEURO Based on current existing solar cells reaching BOL (beginning of life) efficiencies of 32% and EOL (end of life) efficiencies higher than 28%, European industry has unlimited access to the best performing solar cell in terms of EOL efficiency. A further increase in efficiency is possible but might require the addition of more junctions and/or different manufacturing technologies. These types of cells are certainly more expensive than current existing products and the extra cost might not be compensated by the efficiency gain, i.e. the /W figure might be reduced. On the other hand, there is a strong demand from end customers to reduce the cost of the solar generator of which the solar cell forms a significant part. This is especially relevant for upcoming constellation missions. Ideally efficiencies shall still be high, however, cost shall significantly be reduced. As introduced before, this is not possible with a completely new cell design that reaches higher performance. Therefore, it is proposed to focus on the /W figure, considering system level impacts. In other words, efficiencies may drop slightly in favor of a better /W figure on cell level, but this advantage may not be eaten up on system level, when for meeting the required performance then a larger array would be needed. Based on the above, the objective of the proposed activity shall focus on existing solar cell designs that shall be optimised in terms of cost by keeping efficiencies unchanged (if possible). Therefore, all steps in the manufacturing stream of a solar cell epitaxy shall be reviewed and assessed for further cost reduction potential, starting from wafer level up to solar cell assembly level. However, performance can be traded for cost if system level cost reduction by 20% can be achieved. Final design changes shall result in engineering test samples to be submitted to engineering tests. System level impacts shall be assessed. The tasks foreseen in the frame of this activity are the following: Definition of a generic specification for a low-cost solar cell with acceptable performance for different customers. Analysis of all process steps and identification of strongest cost drivers. The process steps to be reviewed shall include all processes starting from the wafer manufacturing to solar cell epitaxy and final solar cell processing as well as quality assurance measures. Yield issues as well as cost benefits due to production upscaling shall also be addressed in terms of their cost saving potential. Development of new processes which allow for a significant cost reduction on the final product. Production of engineering test samples with new processes. Engineering tests. Cost assessment of "cost optimised" solar cells.
• Documents:

 Tender Notice