Award will help advance research, development and commercialization of the world’s most powerful and durable tandem perovskite solar panel.
andem PV, a pioneering force in perovskite solar technology, announces that it was selected to receive a $4.7 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to pursue commercialization of its thin-film solar photovoltaic technology. The selected project will help Tandem PV prove out its revolutionary pairing of conventional silicon solar with perovskite materials for panels that have the potential to be up to 40% more powerful than those used today.
The SETO award is part of a $71 million DOE investment that will supercharge the U.S. clean energy supply chain and open new markets for solar technologies.
“This is Tandem PV’s 10th award from the Department of Energy and we are grateful for its consistent, long-term investment and validation,” said Tandem PV co-founder and CTO Colin Bailie. “It is an exciting time to be working in renewable energy, particularly with support from those who have the vision and expertise to help leading perovskite companies like ours succeed as together we strive to reach net zero emissions by 2050.”
Tandem PV’s design boosts the output of conventional silicon solar cells by stacking them with thin-film perovskite materials that absorb different wavelengths of sunlight. The company is producing tandem perovskite panels with roughly 26% efficiency, which is already 25% more powerful than the typical silicon solar panel. More power at a similar price per watt leads to lower labor costs for installation, lower land-acquisition costs and a lower total cost of ownership for customers.
Tandem PV has demonstrated the equivalent of decades of projected durability in the lab. The company plans to obtain independent industry-standard validation of efficiency and durability, expected to rise further, during 2024. Plans are also underway for a first manufacturing facility as research and development continue apace.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to building an American-made solar supply chain that boosts innovation, drives down costs for families and delivers jobs across the nation,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Thanks to historic funding and actions from the president’s clean energy agenda, we’re able to deploy more solar power – the cheapest form of energy – to millions more Americans with panels stamped ‘made in the U.S.A.’”
Tandem PV was selected as part of SETO’s Advancing U.S. Thin-Film Solar Photovoltaics Funding Program. Projects in this program will enable domestic manufacturing of affordable solar hardware, increase the portion of solar hardware value kept in the U.S. economy and promote American leadership of thin-film PV technologies. Tandem’s 10 DOE awards comprise those for projects or efforts it has led or co-led. These include TEAMUP, a consortium of academic and industry partners working to advance the performance and reliability of tandem perovskite solar panels for consumer use.
Tandem PV, based in Silicon Valley and founded in 2016, is driving the transition to a net-zero economy by developing state-of-the-art perovskite-based solar panels. The company is committed to the production of highly efficient and durable solar technology suited for broad-scale deployment. Its co-founder and CTO, Colin Bailie, developed the first perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell at Stanford University and launched the company through Cyclotron Road, the U.S. Dept. of Energy startup accelerator supporting innovations with potential for global commercial impact. Tandem PV has raised a total of $33 million in venture capital and government funds including from the DOE, the National Science Foundation and the California Energy Commission.
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office supports research, development, demonstration, and technical assistance to improve the affordability, reliability, and domestic benefit of solar technologies to support an equitable transition to a decarbonized energy sector. Learn more at energy.gov/solar-office.
