Ultra Low Cost Solar R&D Funding Winners Announced

A baker’s dozen of Australian projects have each been granted big grants as part of an effort to further drive down the cost of solar power – and considerably.

But just to back up a bit…

In November 2021, the then-Morrison Government released its Low Emissions Technology Statement 2021 (LETS 2021) that contained a goal of ultra low-cost solar electricity generation – $15 per MWh Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) for utility-scale solar power.

Additionally there was a goal of achieving 30% module efficiency and reducing balance of system costs by approximately 70%.  This meant 30% module efficiency at 30 cents per installed watt by 2030 – Solar 30 30 30.

In January last year, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) said it would provide up to $40 million in funding to support Solar 30 30 30. The Ultra Low Cost Solar PV Research and Development Round was then open to interested parties to put their hands up for research and development support.

Now we know who has received what, and a little more cash was thrown in due to the strength of the applications.

ARENA announced yesterday it had awarded $41.5 million in funding across 13 research projects in two streams: Cells and Modules, and Balance of System (BoS), operations and maintenance. Three universities are being provided funding under the program:  University of New South Wales, University of Sydney and Australian National University. UNSW had the biggest score in terms of number of projects funded – 9.

“Australia’s solar researchers have helped to make solar PV the cheapest form of energy in history, but to create a future in which Australian solar energy supplies the world with clean power, fuels and products, we need to be ambitious and drive the cost of solar even lower,” said ARENA CEO Darren Miller.

Australian involvement in pushing down the cost of PV is no idle boast – it has, for example, played a crucial role in making solar more affordable with a single technology.

Among the successful projects to be supported::

• Rear-Junction p-type PERC/TOPCon Hybrid Solar Cells (RJ-PERP).
• Next generation silicon solar cells >26% efficiency in mass production.
• Silver-lean screen printing for sustainable low-cost industrial PV manufacturing at the terawatt scale.
• Low-cost and sustainable PV systems for the terawatt scale.

Will Perovskite Finally Have Its Day (Years) In The Sun?

A couple of projects involving perovskite solar cells also gained a guernsey; including one from the University of Sydney. Commenting on the funding, project lead Professor Anita Ho-Baillie said:

“Thanks to the support of ARENA, we are thrilled to be able to work with SunDrive to accelerate the development of perovskite-silicon tandems for commercialisation.”

Perovskite solar cells have been The Next Big Thing for around a decade now, but an enduring problem has been long-term stability – with viable fixes always just around the corner. And that’s one of the issues Professor Ho-Baillie and her team will be tackling. The involvement of SunDrive is interesting, as they have been doing some pretty cool stuff and perhaps the pair of organisations will be able to finally crack this nut.

Another project involving perovskite-silicon solar cells is headed by ANU, which will be working with panel manufacturing giant Jinko Solar.

Further details on these and other winning projects can be found here.