Carbon Trust, a British non-profit that is working with for-profit partners to develop low-carbon technologies, has just launched a £5 million research and development program focused on turning solar photovoltaic into a cost-effective energy source within a decade. The London Times reports that the project is a partnership with the University of Cambridge and The Technology Partnership and will focus on using organic film with a polymer base rather than costly, high purity silicon, to make photovoltaic cells.
A secondary aim is to simplify manufacturing and installation, and to find ways to prolong the life of organic solar products so that they will have broad commercial appeal. Current solar PV products are made from high-purity silicon and are complex to manufacture, making them expensive. Organic PV products are expected to be cheaper and to use significantly less energy to manufacture.
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.”
Organic solar technology will, theoretically, be able to be deployed on a wide range of surfaces, including windows and roofs. Wider applications could include mobile telephone and laptop computer chargers, and the technology, if perfected, would give businesses and individuals a way to generate power on-site at low cost, and reduce their “carbon footprint” on a cost-effective way.
