Australian Renewable Energy Agency Awards $30 Million For Cheaper Solar Gains

Thin film solar cells

The researchers of University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney have been awarded about $30 million under the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Research and Development (R&D) Program to support research and development (R&D) and commercialisation activities to significantly reduce the cost of solar. The funds are a share of $41.5 million award by ARENA.

As per the official statement of UNSW, the researchers at the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE) at UNSW Engineering are going to receive $30 million for nine projects across the cells and modules stream, and the Balance of System, Operations and Maintenance stream.

UNSW said that both streams have potential to reduce the levelised cost of solar PV and improve cell and module efficiency.

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Professor Nicholas Fisk, Deputy VC, Research & Enterprise, UNSW, congratulated the researchers for securing more ARENA R&D funding than any other university in Australia.

Prof. Fisk said, “The PERC solar cell, which today powers almost 75 per cent of all solar panels in the world, was invented by Professor Martin Green and his team. Professor Green has today secured further funding to continue his exemplary research to improve the performance and lower the cost of commercial solar cells.”

He added that these awards will further enable the researchers of UNSW to help solve the world’s shifting and dynamic energy needs as the world move post-haste to a sustainable energy paradigm.

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Professor Nicholas Ekins, said, “The project has received a $4.8 million grant from ARENA for research into singlet fission solar cells. Current silicon solar cell technologies attain efficiencies above 26 per cent in commercial processes yet the absolute efficiency limit for silicon solar cells is 29 per cent so a new approach is required to surpass that level. The project will use an established photophysical process known as singlet fission that can exceed 30 per cent efficiency and maintains low manufacturing cost.”

In October, 2020, UNSW Sydney researchers were awarded $15.14 million from ARENA R&D Program to help address solar photovoltaic (PV) panel efficiency, overall cost reductions and end-of-life issues.