Lifetime energy yield and economic viability of perovskite/silicon tandem modules

Abstract

With continuously increasing power conversion efficiency, metal halide perovskite solar cells have emerged as promising candidates for high-efficiency silicon based tandem solar cells in two-terminal monolithic integration and four-terminal mechanical stack architectures. The stability of perovskite solar cells is currently one of the major challenges for perovskite/silicon tandem devices and is improving rapidly. However, different degradation rates of perovskite cells and silicon cells in a tandem solar module can affect the overall module degradation. The lifetime energy yield and economic viability of perovskite/silicon tandem modules strongly depend on the degradation rates of perovskite cells. In this paper we present a simulation study of the long term power and energy yield of perovskite/silicon tandem modules under different perovskite cell degradation scenarios. We also estimate the efficiency and cost requirements for the economic feasibility of two- and four-terminal tandem modules. We determine that to maintain 80% of the initial power in a tandem module after 25 years, the maximum permissible perovskite top cell degradation rates are 0.9% per year in a two-terminal configuration and 1.3% per year in a four-terminal configuration for a realistic perovskite cell degradation scenario. We project that a future perovskite/silicon tandem module can produce over 10% more lifetime energy than a single-junction silicon module in 2025 assuming a tandem cell efficiency reaches of 28% and a modest perovskite cell degradation rate of 2% per year. Finally, we estimate the levelized cost of energy for both two- and four-terminal tandem modules. In the case of a degradation rate of 2% per year of the perovskite cell and 50% additional cost for the tandem structure compared to single-junction modules, we find that power conversion efficiencies of 28.7% and 27.6% enable the economic viability of two- and four-terminal perovskite/silicon tandem modules. Our study demonstrates the quantitative impact of perovskite cell degradation on the long-term performance of silicon based tandem modules, and will provide guidance for future commercialization of perovskite/silicon tandem solar modules.

Reference Link
J. Qian, M. Ernst, N. Wu, and A. Blakers, “Impact of perovskite solar cell degradation on the lifetime energy yield and economic viability of perovskite/silicon tandem modules,” Sustainable Energy Fuels 6, 3583 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SE00143C
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