Prospective Techno-Economic Analysis of 4T and 2T Perovskite on Silicon Tandem Photovoltaic Modules at GW-Scale Production

Perovskite on silicon tandem (PST) photovoltaic (PV) modules promise power conversion efficiencies above 30% at low cost and therefore intrigue many in the PV industry. In order to transfer this technology from the lab onto the market, a techno-economic analysis at an industrialized scale should be conducted on process routes with the potential for low-cost scale-up. Herein, such an analysis of four PST architectures by calculating the cost of ownership (COO) for the perovskite production process routes with an annual capacity of 1 GWp on a silicon heterojunction bottom cell in a bifacial module configuration is shown. The first two routes focus on 4-terminal PSTs produced using vacuum processing, one each in p-i-n and n-i-p configurations. The remaining routes utilize slot-die deposition as a single step or as the second step conversion of PbI2 for the perovskite deposition of a monolithic 2-terminal perovskite on silicon cell. The process routes are analyzed in three scenarios taking into consideration the changing PV value chain up to 2030. The COOs are then used to determine the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for each device. The key parameters in the COO and LCOE calculations for further examination in a sensitivity analysis are identified. Herein, the results of a prospective techno-economic analysis for two perovskite on silicon tandem solar photovoltaic module production routes at gigawatt scale are presented. The bottom-up cost model for calculating cost of ownership and levelized cost of electricity facilitates sensitivity analysis identifying cost drivers for further economically feasible development of the technology.image (c) 2023 WILEY-VCH GmbH