New guidelines to assess perovskite solar cell performance

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is providing up to $892,000 to support CSIRO in its development of new guidelines for assessing the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) — a potential competitor to traditional silicon cells with comparable efficiency and adaptability.

As explained by ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht, perovskite can be turned into solar PV cells with a less cost- and labour-intensive process than required with silicon. However, the international standards for measuring solar PV cell performance were established at a time when only silicon wafer cells were available.

CSIRO is thus aiming to establish new methods and guidelines applicable to cells using perovskite materials. According to Frischknecht, “A standard approach to measuring the performance of new solar cell technologies will provide a level playing field for researchers and ensure that funding support is directed at the materials and fabrication processes with the greatest potential for success.”

CSIRO will apply the new guidelines at the ARENA-supported PV Performance Laboratory in Newcastle, claimed to be the only lab in the Southern Hemisphere that is internationally accredited to measure solar PV cell performance.

“Internationally accredited laboratories will validate test results, and CSIRO will collaborate with overseas counterparts to develop best practice methods suitable for different research laboratory environments,” he continued.

The three-year project comes just two months after the announcement of another ARENA-funded initiative, which will see renewable energy supplier Dyesol create a roadmap setting out the steps to take its PSC technology from the lab to a commercially available product.