Australian solar cell innovator SunDrive has been given another helping hand by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to support the firm bringing its home-grown tech to market.
How Much Funding Did SunDrive Receive And What’s It For?
Provided under ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program, SunDrive has been issued a $25.3 million grant to scale and commercialise its copper metallisation solar cell technology to take its research and development facility in South Sydney to a 300 MW commercial scale production capability.
The funding will support local development, deployment and refinement of production tools in addition to undertaking cost modelling to support commercialisation. Modules will be produced at SunDrive’s Kurnell facility for in-field testing and early market acceptance.
Calling it a major milestone for SunDrive and Australian solar innovation, the firm said:
“The first commercial demonstrator tool has been built, and customer demos are now underway, showing how Australian research can translate into real-world manufacturing capability.
This latest grant adds to previous funding from ARENA of $14 million to demonstrate SunDrive’s copper metallisation technology.
What’s Special About SunDrive Solar Cells?
SunDrive uses a copper-based process to replace the silver used in solar cells, aiming to cut costs and improve efficiency while supporting ARENA’s Ultra Low-Cost Solar goal.
“Not only is copper more abundant and cheaper than silver, but SunDrive’s unique manufacturing process also results in higher cell and module efficiencies which could have huge benefits for global decarbonisation efforts,” said ARENA CEO Darren Miller.
A 2023 University of New South Wales (UNSW) study suggested if silver continues to play such an important role solar manufacturing, it will use up to 98% of the world’s current silver reserves by 2050; particularly given the rise of ‘passivated contact’ solar technology that requires 2 to 3 times more silver says SunDrive.
According to ARENA, the solar manufacturing industry is currently using a third of global industrial silver.
In April 2021, SunDrive achieved 24.48% cell efficiency with its copper tech, making it the most efficient commercial-size solar cell ever created at the time. By September 2022, cell efficiency had increased to 26.41%. I wasn’t able to determine if there have been efficiency improvements since.
Collaboration Partners
The ARENA-funded project will be in collaboration with China’s Suzhou Maxwell Technologies Co Ltd and Jiangsu Vistar Equipment Technology Co Ltd, two long established solar cell manufacturers. In May this year, SunDrive inked a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with the pair to co-develop and distribute commercial-scale direct-copper plating tools to advance development and production of high-efficiency heterojunction (HJT) solar cells.
“By partnering with world-leading solar cell equipment manufacturers, Maxwell and Vistar, we’re now showing how our record-breaking tech, combined with SunDrive’s engineering innovation, can scale to industrial production, making solar more efficient with a more abundant and affordable material by replacing silver with copper,” said SunDrive.
It’s not the first time the firm has teamed up with Chinese solar heavyweights. In October last year, SunDrive announced it was leading an application for funding under the Albanese Government’s Solar Sunshot program in a joint venture with Trina Solar. SunDrive says the proposed facility in Sydney will create more than 300 skilled jobs and have an annual production capacity of 1.2 gigawatts.
There’s been no further news on this that I’m aware of, but ARENA is yet to earmark all funding from that round.
So, When Will You Be Able To Buy SunDrive Panels?
When we’ll see SunDrive solar panels finally available here in Australia still isn’t clear.
If you’re looking for Australian-made solar panels for your home’s rooftop right now, then the only show in town is Tindo Solar — and Tindo make good modules. The firm manufactures its panels in Adelaide with local and imported components — among the imported elements are the solar cells. But expect to pay a premium well above the prices of good-quality budget Chinese brands such as Trina.
If country of manufacture doesn’t play a major role in your purchasing decision, discover and what you need to know to pick a good solar panel brand.
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