There is still 25% room for photovoltaic cost reduction! Conversion efficiency can be increased to 40%

——Interview with Martin Green, distinguished professor of the University of New South Wales in Sydney            Since the first photovoltaic cell came out in 1954, photovoltaic industry has developed for more than 60 years, but photovoltaic technology has been monopolized by the United States for more than 40 years. Until this year, perc technology developed by the photovoltaic team led by Martin Green of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (UNSW Sydney) really replaced the photovoltaic technology developed by the Americans in 1970 Technology has become the mainstream of technology in the industry.            In response, Martin Green, the world's top expert in silicon solar cells and a distinguished professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, was very impressed. He told reporters during the China Australia science Future Conference on September 4 that "perc technology has really changed the history of photovoltaic industry since this year, surpassing the core photovoltaic industry developed by Americans for more than 40 years in terms of shipment volume for the first time Technology has become a new technology which is widely used by mainstream enterprises. "            Professor Martin Green delivered a keynote speech at the China Australia science future conference            Photovoltaic power generation cost still has 25-50% reduction space            Martin Green's research team in the school of engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney is the largest and most famous university research team in the field of photovoltaic research in the world. This is thanks to the support of the world's top 50 schools. In 1974, Martin Green joined the University of New South Wales in Sydney, focusing on solar cell research. The perc battery invented by him and his team has changed the fate of the photovoltaic industry. The University of New South Wales in Sydney has signed an innovative energy purchase agreement (PPA) to help the University achieve carbon neutrality in campus energy use by 2020. To achieve this goal, the perc solar cell technology invented by Martin Green's team was used.            International Energy Network reporter learned that his team has maintained the world record of silicon solar cell conversion efficiency for more than 30 years. This is also known as one of the ten milestones in the history of photovoltaic development. Martin Green has his own unique views on the technological development of photovoltaic industry.            The development speed of photovoltaic industry is beyond imagination, and the speed of cost reduction is also amazing. In the past decade, the cost of photovoltaic power consumption has dropped by more than 90%. Although the speed is so amazing, it still seems that it has not reached the bottom. In an interview with reporters, Martin Green said: there is still about 25-50% room for the cost of photovoltaic power generation to decline.            According to Martin Green's further analysis, perc technology can achieve a conversion rate of 25% at present, but it is feasible to increase the conversion efficiency of photovoltaic power generation to 30% or even 40% in theory by using silicon solar cells as the bottom cells and combining with solar cells made of copper, zinc, sulfur and other materials.            The suitable raw materials need to have four characteristics. The first is stable performance, which will not cause obvious attenuation of power generation efficiency due to the change of time and environment; the second is that the materials can absorb different spectra from silicon, which can increase the power generation efficiency; the third is that these materials are relatively sufficient in element reserve, which can achieve relatively low use cost; the fourth is that these materials are not clear Obviously toxic.            Martin Green's theory of expanding photovoltaic raw materials is also the conclusion drawn from the study of the more popular perovskite battery technology in the industry. Although perovskite battery is very hot at present, Martin Green thinks its short board is very obvious, among which the biggest problems are two points: first, perovskite battery is not stable enough, and it is not suitable for commercial use until there is no better solution; second, perovskite contains toxic and harmful substances such as lead, because it is soluble in water, it is easy to cause damage to the environment and human body. If the toxicity problem is not properly solved, perovskite battery is still difficult to enter the commercial market.            Australia to achieve in 2022            Target of 30% photovoltaic and wind power generation            Talking about the differences between China and Australia in the development of renewable energy, Martin Green said that although China's photovoltaic module production and installed capacity are the first in the world, Australia is better in terms of per capita use. Although the Australian government does not particularly support the development of renewable energy industry, it is worried that the vigorous development of renewable energy will lead to high unemployment and economic downturn in some parts of Australia with coal mines as the economic pillar. However, Australia is not inferior in the development of renewable energy, and will achieve the goal of 30% power generation in 2022.            According to the data of clean energy report of Australia 2019: in 2018, Australia installed 6 photovoltaic modules per minute on average, with an increase of 45% in industrial and commercial photovoltaic and 43% in household photovoltaic. In the whole year, 1.55gw of new photovoltaic installed capacity was added.            "Due to the high price of thermal power in Australia, even in winter, photovoltaic power accounts for 6-7% of the power grid in Australia," said Martin Green. Many of them are also equipped with energy storage equipment. Although the energy storage equipment also costs some money, the overall calculation shows that the use cost of photovoltaic power generation is still much lower than the purchase of thermal power. "            As the largest producer of photovoltaic modules and equipment, China is a natural alliance with Australia, which has almost no photovoltaic manufacturing industry in China. Therefore, China and Australia will have a lot of cooperation opportunities in the future photovoltaic field. Martin Green said that at present, their team is also working with