Solar cell technology opportunities: Looking To a Bright, Sunny Future

What are the major technology challenges to future growth in the solar-cell industry? Where are the big-bang-for-the-buck R&D investment opportunities? These and other questions were put to a group of 72 internationally recognised experts in the field at a special workshop.

Their conclusions are summarised in a new National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) publication on Photovoltaic Technologies for the 21st Century.

The workshop was led by a steering committee chaired by Roger G Little, CEO, Spire Corporation, and Robert W Collins, NEG Endowed Chair of Silicate and Materials Science, University of Toledo, and co-sponsored by NIST.

Photovoltaics - the generation of electric power by direct conversion of sunlight using "solar cells" - is a rapidly growing field. Conservative estimates predict a worldwide annual photovoltaic manufacturing capacity of 200 gigawatts (or 200,000 MW) by 2020. (See: Power from renewable sources surpasses N-power for the first time) 

For comparison, the current global generating capacity for commercial nuclear power plants is estimated to be 377 GW or (estimate by the World Nuclear Association.).

The United States currently has 8 per cent of the manufacturing share of this market, but there are opportunities to double that or better, particularly through technological advances, according to the workshop report.