Managing the quality and efficiency of Australia’s solar cell technology could be key to a successful and sustainable energy transition.
With CSIRO’s recent GenCost report confirming that renewables remain the lowest cost new build electricity technology, and the Federal Government announcing a $1 billion SunShot program to reinvigorate Australia’s solar manufacturing industry, photovoltaics (PV) continue to be a critical part of Australia’s energy transition.
However, to ensure that this renewable energy source fulfils its potential for generations to come, it’s fundamentally important that effective structures are put in place to manage the quality and performance of solar technology. This is where the research taking place at CSIRO’s PV Performance Laboratory (PVPL) comes in.
CSIRO Principal Research Scientist, Dr Chris Fell – who played a key role in launching CSIRO’s PV research program – said, “We need to stay focused on the quality and performance of imported solar modules but extend that attention to the proposed 20 per cent of the Australian market that is expected to be manufactured locally.
“Competing with imported products directly on price will be challenging, so quality will be crucial to the long-term success of the SunShot initiative.”
A brief history of CSIRO’s PVPL
Australia’s research infrastructure is a fundamental part of the scientific ecosystem, and as the national science agency, CSIRO is a steward of much of that infrastructure – providing the evidence base to guide technical innovation and expansion and inform the allocation of public and private investment.
Dr Chris Fell at CSIRO’s Energy Centre in Newcastle. Image: CSIRO
The early work to establish CSIRO’s PV Performance Laboratory took place between 2005 and 2010. The aim was to enhance the credibility of Australian researchers working on new organic solar cells by ensuring that they were using internationally agreed methods to measure and report the performance of their devices.
Measurements of solar cell efficiency can be straightforward if accuracy is not a concern, and this situation had led to some suspicion that results from around the world were exaggerated to secure lucrative grants for commercialisation or further research.
“As the price of mainstream solar PV came down, it became clear that CSIRO could apply our skills to commercial products,” Dr Fell said.
“In 2012, we designed a PV Outdoor Research Facility when there were very few of these in the world, with 60 testbeds for current-voltage testing of commercial scale PV modules. In 2013, we purchased our first solar module flash solar simulator – sometimes known as a ‘flash tester’. By 2015, our solar measurement ground station was deemed so comprehensive and accurate it became a site for the global Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN).”
The logical next step for CSIRO was applying to become the first PV measurement facility in the southern hemisphere accredited to the IEC 17025 laboratory competency standard, which places auditable requirements on the laboratory relating to governance, personnel, resourcing, equipment, procedures, training, supervision, authorisation, impartiality and more.
One example of these complex requirements is that the PVPL must regularly calibrate 32 instruments with external labs accredited to international standards. Additionally, the lab uses more than 50 instruments that don’t require calibration, and there are 68 sources of measurement uncertainty that must be understood and quantified.
“We believe that PVPL’s status as an IEC 17025 accredited laboratory is a clear indicator of the world-class services we can provide to Australian solar industry stakeholders, as well as other domestic and international research institutions,” Dr Fell said.
Armed with this accreditation, CSIRO was invited to join the handful of PV measurement labs around the world that have been trusted to endorse new solar cell efficiency world records. Dr Fell now also represents Australia in the International Electrotechnical Commission Technical Committee 82, responsible for maintaining the international standards for solar PV.
National laboratories play a crucial role
Australia boasts the highest uptake of rooftop solar in the world. It is now the country’s second largest source of renewable electricity generation, and its contribution to the grid is forecast to more than triple in the coming decades.
However, Australia’s love of solar extends well beyond urban rooftops; it also encompasses remote megawatt solar farms and cutting-edge solar cars hurtling along roads in the Australian outback.
This recent embrace of solar’s potential across the Australian context – and the groundbreaking work that is currently taking place to develop the next generation of technologies like perovskite PV – has been driven and supported by robust, evidence-based research to measure the quality and performance of solar cells.
By 2020, CSIRO’s PVPL cell measurement laboratory had verified the performance of countless research-scale solar cells, including two new world records.
The module testing laboratory had measured more than 1000 solar panels, including critical quality control for six utility-scale solar power plants and more than a dozen small companies.
Meanwhile, the PV Outdoor Research Facility had underpinned internationally published research to better understand the role of the solar spectrum on the energy yield of solar PV; and had made measurements for a consumer advocacy magazine and several companies developing ancillary technologies such as solar coatings and passive cooling schemes.
“The ongoing work of measuring cell efficiency might not always be a headline grabber,” Dr Fell said.
“But it’s a vital part of the technology chain for many reasons – not least the fact that inaccurate or exaggerated results can lead to false promises, misdirected funding, and loss of trust in the industry.
“With new Australian PV manufacturing on the near horizon, quality has never been more important to the Australian solar industry.”
Dr Nikos Kopidakis, PV Cell and Module Performance Team Lead with the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) said that national laboratories and science agencies like NREL and CSIRO are uniquely placed to conduct this kind of research.
“Accredited labs that measure and rate solar PV module performance are essential for supporting the PV industry,” Dr Kopidakis said.
“While collaboration is key in the renewables sector, precision performance measurement is the type of work that is best suited to a national facility. It’s unlikely to be a priority for university researchers, and private companies can’t justify the direct investment. They couldn’t spend an entire day measuring two modules like one of our researchers would do.”
A collaborative approach to supporting solar
Successfully navigating the energy transition is a key issue both within Australia and around the world. Reliable and actionable energy research will be critical in supporting that transition.
As well as being well connected to the NREL in the US, CSIRO also collaborates closely with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the organisation tasked with research to support the goals of the European Union and the European Green Deal – one of which is supporting the rapid development and deployment of solar PV.
JRC’s activities include developing standards for photovoltaic products, with a focus on quality and performance; providing a focal point for research on PV performance assessment; providing an independent reference for research projects, laboratories, and industry; coordinating harmonisation across the sector; and sharing best practice.
In Australia, CSIRO’s longstanding track record of productive collaborations with universities, research institutes, industry, and governments position it well to take a similar leadership role in the solar energy space over the coming years.
“What I’m trying to create through the work of the PVPL is an industry framework to support sustainable solar manufacturing in Australia,” Dr Fell said.
“We need an industry that embraces innovation but is also robust, evidence-based, and can stand the test of time.
“As the national science agency, our job is not to cover every base ourselves. Instead, we need to support and foster growth within the industry through collaboration, the provision of complementary services, maintaining key infrastructure and the promotion of industry standards that prioritise quality and reliability.”
Featured image: CSIRO’s Photovoltaic Outdoor Research Facility. Image credit: CSIRO.
