Graphene Flagship scientists are working to help the European Union meet its sustainability goals. They are experimenting with ways in which the fabulous 2D material can help improve renewable energy technology’s efficiency. The group developed a solar farm infrastructure based on graphene-perovskite photovoltaic panels. They are testing it at an outdoor field on the island of Crete, Greece, with great success. The study could lead to a more efficient, clean source of energy.
The project is a Graphene Flagship led collaboration with the University of Rome Tor Vergata, the Instituto Italiano di Tecnologia, the Hellenic Mediterranean University, the University of Cambridge, BeDimensional, ENEA, and the GreatCell Solar.
The autonomous graphene-enabled solar farm, installed at the Hellenic Mediterranean University, has been in continuous operation at full capacity since June. It launched in January, but the team was testing and optimizing the system until June. It’s power output and efficiency is very promising so far. It consists of nine graphene–perovskite panels with a total production of about 261 watt-peak. It takes up an area of 4.5m2.
Dr. Emmanuel Kymakis, who is in charge of the solar farm infrastructure and leads energy generation at the Graphene Flagship, announced at a virtual press event in September that:
The graphene–perovskite photovoltaics (G-PE PVs) exhibit superior performance to conventional PV panels at high-temperature conditions, and when it comes to stability, only a small amount of degradation was observed after three months. The G-PE panels were benchmarked against conventional PV technologies (Si, CdTe, CGIS), revealing that G-PE PVs are competitive in terms of output power and PCE, while exhibiting superior performance at high-temperature conditions.
Thanks to graphene’s versatility, the team envisions a new manufacturing method that could produce large-area solar panels that cost less to make. Furthermore, graphene-enabled solar cells bring down the cost of photovoltaic energy so much that it’s cheaper than fossil fuels. This is because the material increases the power conversion efficiency of the panel, improving the module lifetime.
Aldo di Carlo, Graphene Flagship’s spearhead leader for energy generation, explained:
We have set ambitious targets for the solar farm project. During the project, we paved the way towards the future exploitation of graphene perovskite in tandem with solar cells, showing power conversion efficiencies far beyond present records. Alongside creating the world’s first graphene-enabled solar farm at the premises of the Hellenic Mediterranean University of Crete, the project aims to reduce the Levelized Cost of energy below €20/MWh. G-PE PVs take less energy and materials to produce, compared with conventional PV, and the low cost and high-speed production methods should significantly cut the price of solar modules.
The group plans to continue evaluating the solar farm in Greece and then present a detailed report after a year of continuous full-power operation. Afterward, they want to begin manufacturing graphene-perovskite solar panels for commercial use.
