After 18 months of work, the European Commission project has made significant progress in online process monitoring, sensor technology and AI integration, which are being tested in four European industrial plants.
Located in Germany, Austria, Poland and Spain, these four pilot plants have begun testing the innovations developed by Platform-ZERO, a project funded by the European Commission with more than 10 million euros, coordinated by the Institute for Energy Research of Catalonia (IREC), which has the participation of twelve entities including the Pablo de Olavide University.
The Platform-Zero team at a meeting in Brussels with officials from the European Commission
Among the main improvements achieved, which are already being tested, are the understanding of the industrial requirements necessary for monitoring photovoltaic production in real time to enable zero-defect manufacturing; the design of advanced sensors, and their efficient integration into production lines, which have substantially improved the ability to detect defects in real time; and the use of Big Data with an efficient analysis of the information obtained.
To integrate all these innovations in the photovoltaic industry, semi-automated and modular sensor prototypes have been designed and tested, ensuring flexibility and adaptability in various industrial environments. At the same time, an integration of these sensors in monitoring stations with great adaptability has been designed, which facilitate comprehensive monitoring of processes and quality control.
A meticulously designed AI system forms the backbone of intelligent monitoring and control. In addition, algorithms have been developed for the effective management, use and extraction of data, ensuring accurate and timely data processing. To this end, effective interfaces have been designed for the communication and control of this data, the application of which will allow continuous integration and interaction between the system components. To validate these innovations, samples have been produced to test the technologies developed by Platform-ZERO under real conditions.
This innovative approach by Platform-ZERO is being tested in four pilot plants focused on smart coatings (Lurederra, Spain); high-efficiency solar modules (Germany); flexible solar films (Austria); and a pilot production line for perovskite photovoltaic modules in Poland.
Platform-ZERO focuses on third-generation photovoltaic technologies, such as CIGS and perovskites, which enable higher efficiency, lower costs and improved performance compared to standard silicon-based photovoltaic technologies. These materials are well suited to automated manufacturing and Industry 4.0 approaches, with the aim of boosting climate-neutral energy generation in Europe.
Images of the four pilot plants that are testing the innovations developed by Platform-ZERO
A multidisciplinary team made up of experts from academia and industry
Platform-ZERO has a total budget of over 10 million euros and will last for 4 years. The consortium is made up of 12 European partners and coordinated by Victor Izquierdo, from the Solar Energy Materials and Systems group at IREC (Catalan Institute for Energy Research). It includes four research centres and one university with strong expertise in the development of spectroscopic methodologies (IREC, HZB), imaging (AIT), optoelectronic device evaluation (UPO), AI analysis (AIT, IREC, RISC) and data management (RISC). In addition, the consortium includes two research centres with strong expertise in advanced photovoltaic technologies and with industrial pilot line facilities to validate concepts (two demo-sites) based on high-efficiency CIGS devices (ZSW) and intelligent surface coatings and processes based on nanotechnologies (Lurederra). Finally, the consortium is complemented by a metrology SME with solid expertise in the implementation of industrial process monitoring applications (LENZ) and by two third-generation photovoltaic manufacturing SMEs (SUNPLUGGED and SAULE), both providing their production lines to demonstrate the Platform-ZERO technology (two demo sites). In addition, two other associated SMEs, R2M Solution France and R2M Solution SRL Italy, are responsible for dissemination, exploitation and communication actions.
Pablo de Olavide University, with the participation of a research team from the Physical Chemistry Area, works mainly on the optoelectronic evaluation and characterization of semiconductor devices.
