Regarding clean energy, the Energy solar, to the detriment of a very rapid development over the last 5 years, remains relatively marginal globally, far behind the Energy wind, biomass and especially hydropower. Thanks to recent technical advances and ongoing technological breakthroughs, solar energy is probably that of the clean and renewable energies that has the greatest margin of progression between now and the next few decades, and the strongest potential to become the first source of energy for humanity, before the middle of this century.
In terms of panels solar photovoltaic, the rate of conversion of light into electricity is a key factor in terms of development and profitability. This maximum threshold has just passed to 46%, a new world record. This rate has been achieved by a cell solar jointly developed by CEA-Leti, the French company Soitec, and the Fraunhofer Institute for solar energy systems in Germany.
Contrary to panels photovoltaic which are widely used today, these new cells are not made of silicon, but use other semiconductors, coming from materials called III-V because they are composed of elements chemical ranked between the third and fifth column of Mendeleev's periodic table.
These new collectors High-performance solar systems are made up of a superposition of several layers, each of which reacts to light at a certain wavelength. Another advantage, this new type of solar cell can be produced with the help of a technology perfectly dominated by the industry for 20 years. These III-V cells can therefore be used on a large scale in large solar plants located in tropical or desert regions that have Salt direct.
In actual use, in the field, the performance will be slightly lower, but should exceed 40%. A rate of conversion Energy efficiency well above the current average rate of 25% of the last cells in silicon.
For its part, the group Armor presented its latest innovation a few weeks ago, a movie PV thin and organic that should allow, in the long term, to transform many surfaces, nowadays unexploited, into solar panels that produce electricity.
Drawing on his mastery of ink chemistry and printing technologies, Armor has developed in association with Cambrios Technologies, a movie organic PV. Very thin, it can adapt to any type of surface. Certainly, this solar film currently has a performance two and a half times lower than that of a classic panel, but this handicap is largely compensated by its ease of production and installation.
With these films solar flexible, we can imagine that everyone will be able, in just a few years from now, to easily and permanently produce the electrical energy necessary for small consumptions, such as those of the terminals and appliances Electronic for example. Furthermore, contrary to current rigid silicon panels, these flexible films do not use rare earths, the extraction of which runs the risk of being exhausted in a few years.