LC-SOLAR SIGNED

Project "LC-SOLAR" data sheet

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 Project objective

Replacing fossil-fuels with solar energy in electric power generation is one of the most important challenges to humanity. From an economic point of view, the important parameter is the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), or Levelized Energy Cost (LEC), which is the net present value of the unit-cost of electricity over the lifetime of an energy generating asset. The minimally expected LCOE for any solar energy system in 2030 is 0.045 [€/kWh], similar to today's Photovoltaics (PV) LCOE, and at the same level as fossil-fuels. In this proposal, we aim to demonstrate a Proof of Concept [PoC] for a low-cost CPV operating at LCOE of 0.025 [€/kWh] (50% reduction of PVs today). The proposal is a direct continuation of our ERC project on new thermodynamic ideas for solar cells, where we demonstrated that; In contrast to thermal emission, photoluminescence (PL) rate is conserved when the temperature increases, while each photon is blue-shifted (photon-energy increased). We also demonstrated how such Thermally Enhanced-PL (TEPL) generates more energetic photons, by orders of magnitude, than thermal emission at similar temperatures. These findings show that PL is an ideal optical heat pump, and can harvest thermal losses in photovoltaics with a theoretical maximal efficiency of 70%, and a practical device/solution that can reach 48% efficiency. In our preliminary unpublished work, we demonstrate 42% TEPL efficiency compared to an ideal-PV. The challenge in this PoC is to demonstrate photon recycling, photon management, and thermal management, where the maximum of the PL is converted to electricity in an operating PV. We also performed a detailed breakdown of the costs related to TEPL based device. Based on our cost analysis, achieving 32% total conversion efficiency without a cooling system supports LCOE of 0.025 [€/kWh], which will significantly accelerate the usage of renewable energy.