Prof. dr. Bart Vermang

Outline

1. Myself

2. EnergyVille / Solliance

3. Solar @ EnergyVille

4. Belgium, EU and World

5. Exponential improvement

Bart Vermang

▪ MSc in Physics, UGent

▪ MSc thesis at NTNU, Norway

▪ PhD in Electrical Engineering, KU Leuven / imec

▪ Silicon photovoltaics

Bart Vermang

▪ Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoc, Uppsala (Sweden)

▪ FWO Postdoc, KU Leuven / imec

▪ Professor in Engineering Technology, UHasselt

▪ Thin film photovoltaics

EnergyVille

EnergyVille

▪ Partnership in energy research

2

• Flexibility & Markets

• Sustainable Cities

• Thermal Networks

• Battery Management

• Photovoltaic Research

• Solid-state Batteries

• Power Devices

• Energy Yield Forecasting

• Materials for Photovoltaics & Batteries

• Thin Film Photovoltaics

• Reliability

• Power Electronics

• AC & DC Grids

• Building Physics

• Mechanics

EnergyVille

▪ Partnership in energy research

Strategy & market

Components & materials

Energy networks

Buildings and districtsEnergy-storage

EnergyVille

▪ Thor Park

EnergyVille

EnergyVille 1 – KUL & VITO

EnergyVille 2 – Imec & UHasselt

EnergyVille 2

Support area and ware house

laboratories

Technical equipment (HVAC)

Meeting rooms

Offices, admin

Casco

BIPV

Offices

Meeting open spaceFloor 0

Floor 1

Floor 2 Roof with HVAC

EnergyVille 2

24

Battery

Lab

Dry

Room

PV

Module

Lab

Empty

(casco)

Gowning

Labs: 2000 m2

• PV Module 550 m2

• TFPV 200 m2

• Analysis 200 m2

• Battery 250 m2

• Dry-room 100 m2

Lab conditions:

• Class 100,000

• Temp = 21 2 C

• R.H. = 45-50 10 %C

en

tral

servic

e c

orr

ido

r

Dry room conditions:

• 85 m2 net surface

• Class 100,000

• Temp = 21 1 C

• R.H.< 0.6 0.1 %

Analysis

+

TFPV

Lab

EnergyVille 2

EnergyVille 2

EnergyVille 2 – Solar + storage

EnergyVille 1

EnergyVille 1

EnergyVille 1

EnergyVille 1

Solliance

▪ Partnership in thin film PV research

Solliance research partners

Solliance industry partners

Materials Equipment PV Manufacturers End users

part of

Part 3 – Solar @ EnergyVille

▪ Physics

▪ History

▪ Research topics

▪ Perovskite

▪ Tandem

▪ PV windows

▪ Cell design

▪ Module design

▪ Future

▪ BIPV

▪ Thin film PV

Physics – Solar energy

Physics – Electromagnetic radiation

Physics – Solar spectrum

Physics – Semiconductors

Valence band

Valence band

Conduction band

Conduction band

Valence band

Conduction band

Insulator Semiconductor Conductor

En

erg

y

Physics – Semiconductors

Valence band

Conduction band

Semiconductor

En

erg

y 𝐸 = ℎ𝜈 =ℎ𝑐

𝜆

Physics – Semiconductors – Si and thin film

EC

EV

DISTANCE →

EN

ER

GY→

Both types of band gaps are

represented in the same way in

the commonly-used simplified

1D band diagram:

DIRECT INDIRECT

Physics – Semiconductors – Si and thin film

Si

Cd2+ Te2-II-VI

I-III-VI2 Cu+ In3+ 2 S2-

IV

History

▪ Charles Fritts

▪ “On a New Form of Selenium Photocell”

▪ American Journal of Science 26:465 (1883)

History

▪ Charles Fritts

▪ The first solar array installed on a New York City rooftop, 1884

History

Research topic – Perovskite

Research topic – Perovskite

▪ ABX3 – perovskite structure

▪ A = An organic cation (CH3NH3+, HC(NH2)2

+, Cs+)

▪ B = A big inorganic cation (Pb2+,Sn2

+)

▪ X3= A smaller halogen anion (I-,Br-,Cl-)

Research topic – Perovskite

▪ Large-area & wide band-gap

1.5 eV

2.3 eV

Research topic – Tandem

Research topic – Tandem

▪ More efficient usage of the solar spectrum of interest in a tandem fashion

Bottom cell

Top cell

Research topic – Tandem

Research topic – Tandem

Research topic – Tandem Where EV stands

Research topic – Tandem

▪ Stable alternative for perovskite: Cu2ZnGeSe4

Intermezzo – 150 years table of Dmitri Mendeleev

Research topic – PV windows

Solar cell 1 Solar cell 2 (OPV)

Research topic – PV windows

▪ UV absorbers/filters

▪ Targets: bandgap ≥ 2.7 eV, high UV absorption

▪ Materials: ZnSe (2.7 eV), CuAl(S,Se)2 (2.5-3.5 eV), Cu2SiS3 (2.6 eV) and Cu2ZnSi(S,Se)4 (2.4-3 eV)

Research topic – Cell design

▪ Thin film solar cell structure

Front contact

n-type semiconductor

p-type semiconductor

Rear contact

Research topic – Cell design

▪ Silicon solar cell electrically and optically optimized

Research topic – Cell design

▪ PERC market

Research topic – Cell design

▪ Rear surface passivated ultra thin film solar cell

Research topic – Module design

Research topic – Module design

Woven interconnect fabric concept

(imec patented)

▪ LowT and Pb-free coated wires woven

together with an encapsulant

▪ Combined solder and lamination process

+Thin solar cells

+ Stress relief

+ No additional material

+ Simplified layup

Research topic – Module design

Future – Building Integrated (BI)PV

▪ From BAPV to BIPV

▪ Improved esthetics

▪ Lower cost (potential for ~)

▪ Wider distribution (better matching consumption peaks, spreading of generation profile)

▪ In line with EU-vision on energy neutral buildings

Future – BIPV

▪ Thin film PV

▪ Flexible, lightweight, particular colors/shapes

Future – BIPV

Future – Thin film PV

Future – Thin film PV

Part 4 – Solar in Belgium, Europe and the World

▪ Belgium

▪ Europe

▪ World

Solar in Belgium – History

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Inst

alle

d c

apac

ity

(MW

p)

Year

Solar in Belgium – History

Solar in Belgium – Future

Solar in Belgium – Future

Solar in Belgium – Future

Solar in Europe – History

Climate change conference 2018

Solar in the World – Future

Solar in the World – The global grid (Damien Ernst)

Solar in the World – The global grid (Damien Ernst)

Part 5 – Exponential improvement

▪ Solar / Storage

▪ Technology

▪ Cost

▪ Capacity

Solar energy – Technology improvement

Solar energy – Cost improvement

Solar energy – Capacity improvement

Solar energy – Capacity improvement

< 20 years

Solar energy – Cost (Germany)

Solar energy – Cost (US)

Solar energy – Cost (China)

Batteries – Capacity, cost and technology improvement

Thank you for your attention!

Yes, I’m (also) wrong

about renewables.

They’re amazing!

Thank you for your attention!

Mijn expertise is

judo,

judo,

...

en judo.