The power of the sun (organic PV)

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http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/specials/low_carbon_innovators/article2794694.ece

From Times Online
November 7, 2007

The power of the sun

A new method for converting energy from sunlight could radically reduce our carbon emissions

In principle well over 30% of our domestic electricity needs could be generated by solar cells which can soak up sunlight and convert it into power for our lighting and appliances. This solar photovoltaic, or PV, technology is already available and works effectively, but current products are made from high purity silicon and are complex to manufacture, which makes them too expensive for widespread use.

The sun provides the largest energy flow in our ecosystem and of course, as a source of energy, sunlight is completely free and very widely available. If scientists can create reliable, low-cost solar cells this could make a significant contribution to meeting our growing energy needs and cutting our carbon emissions. The Carbon Trust, a firm that supports the development of low carbon technologies, believes the potential for new low cost solar products needs to be developed further. To accelerate progress, it has just launched a £5 million research and development programme that aims to turn solar PV into a cost-effective energy source within the next decade.

The project, in partnership with the University of Cambridge and The Technology Partnership (TTP) will focus on using organic film with a polymer base rather than costly, high purity silicon, as well as simplifying manufacture and installation, and finding ways to prolong the life of organic products, so that they will have broad commercial appeal. As well as being cheaper, organic PV products are also expected to use significantly less energy to manufacture than current solar products.

Mark Williamson, Director of Innovations at the Carbon Trust says the specific aim is to accelerate the commercial exploitation of organic PV. “The £5 million investment will cover the first three years of a longer-term project, taking proven science from the lab and finding ways to manufacture cells cost-effectively, take care of intellectual property, and ultimately build the concept into a scaleable commercial entity,” he says. “The University of Cambridge brings world class expertise in pure science and has previously spun out scientific breakthroughs to become viable products, while TTP are renowned for commercialising early stage ideas.”

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The Carbon Trust has set an ambitious target of deploying more than 1GW of organic PV by 2017, potentially delivering CO2 savings of more than one million tonnes a year. Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust believes that in the next ten years solar PV could become as cheap as the power currently delivered to our homes. “It is because the carbon savings and commercial potential for this technology are so vast that we have acted now to take a good, but expensive idea, and turn it into a cost effective, easily available reality,” he says.