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With The Discovery Of The Efficiency Of Copper In Solar Panels, Startup Seeks To Progress In The Manufacturing Process, Where Silver Will Be Replaced By Copper In The Next Years
The Australian startup SunDrive has created something that their researchers are calling ‘the most efficient solar cell in the world,’ as it is the only one so far capable of replacing silver with copper. By making this wonderful discovery and implementing the necessary changes and adaptations, the material achieved an energy efficiency of around 25.54%, surpassing the previous record of about 25.26%.
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Understand Better The Efficiency Gain After The Replacement Of Silver By Copper
Silver is used in the manufacturing of conventional solar panels and is an essential element for the proper functioning of the panels. Currently, the production of photovoltaic cells accounts for about 15% of the industrial silver consumption worldwide.
By conducting experiments with copper, a satisfactory result was achieved to the point of being considered for permanent use instead of the traditionally used silver since, in addition to being much cheaper than silver, copper is found abundantly in nature and requires less energy to process.
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With 160,000 m² of collectors, an area larger than 20 football fields, Silkeborg, in Denmark, hosts a solar thermal plant that heats 19,500 homes and could become the largest solar heating plant in the world.
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Startup Will Invest In The Use Of Copper, Replacing Silver In The Manufacturing Process Of Solar Energy Panels
According to the co-founder of the startup, Vince Allen, about a decade ago, commercially manufactured solar cells had an efficiency limit that could range between 14% and 16%, meaning this limit was based on the total amount of energy generated, based on the amount of sunlight that could reach the panels.
These percentages were very low, making the use of this type of system entirely irrelevant and dispensable compared to other energy sources already available on the market or that were in the final stages of development.
Now, with the replacement of silver by copper, the researchers at the startup are working hard to align two key factors for the continuous use of this technology, adapting it for industrial scale, which are to reduce the price of solar energy panels and increase the energy efficiency of the photovoltaic cells intended for generating electricity from the panels.
Practical Application Of The Project
According to SunDrive executives, it will still take some time for the company to start the process of commercially scaling solar energy panel production using copper instead of silver.
Even though the researchers are not yet fully prepared for the manufacturing process of photovoltaic cells for systems intended for installation, the efficiency record achieved by the startup already represents a huge change for the photovoltaic solar panel industry.
Vince Allen believes that if they follow the schedule laid out by the research team, the plan is to build a module that can be installed on the rooftops of homes or even in a solar farm by the end of 2021.
Allen and his team are focused on building the pilot production line by 2022, with solar panels ready for mass commercialization by the first half of 2023.
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