Powerfoil - A low cost perovskite based solar cell to reduce cost of Green Hydrogen
Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) which is focused on investing in Green Hydrogen and is owned by Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest is heavily investing in Netherlands-based HyET Solar. The ultimate goal of this financial movement is to scale up HyET Solar production capacity and roll-out its business worldwide. FEI is expecting to use the solar module technology of HyET to be used in their plans for 1 GW photovoltaic factory in Australia. FFI was also joined by a Dutch investment fund Teslin Participaties in the project.
HyET’s solar technology is unique. Their key product, Powerfoil, is manufactured using a thin-film microcrystalline silicon (which is amorphous silicon but also contains small crystals) in perovskites solar cells. It belongs to an emerging category of PV solar cells called Perovskite/Silicon tandem solar cells which are highly efficient, lightweight and flexible. Powerfoil is efficient, as it has a High power density of 110-150 W/kg. Furthermore, Powerfoil is 600 g/m2 and 95 % lighter than conventional crystalline silicone-based (c-Si) glass panels. And since it is flexible it can be rolled out like a carpet to fix on a wide spectrum of surface types. The lightweight makes Powerfoil be suitable for load sensitive structures such as roofs of cruise ships, fuel stations and oil storage tanks. Further, the flexibility ensures minimally invasive designs on the structure.
In addition to the efficiency, lightweight and flexibility; HyET's technology is cost-effective, especially on scaling up in utility-scale solar projects as it reduces the levelised cost of energy by 7.6%, to around $23.5/MWh. This is a crucial factor for electrolyzer based green hydrogen facilities since a major portion of the operational cost goes with electricity.
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Rachel Parkes (627156db9d68b)
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