The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has provided Tandem PV with $4.7 million in funding to advance the commercialization of the company’s thin-film solar technology.
Tandem PV, a perovskite solar panel developer, said it has received a $4.7 million award from the DoE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office to advance the commercialization of its thin-film solar technology.
The prize is part of a bigger picture Investment of $71 million by the DoE in projects that support the U.S. solar supply chain.
The company is developing solar panels that combine conventional silicon cells with perovskite materials for panels, giving them the potential to produce up to 40% more power than traditional solar panels used today, according to Tandem PV.
Tandem PV’s design stacks a thin-film perovskite layer on top of the crystalline PV layer, with the two materials absorbing different wavelengths of sunlight. The company currently produces tandem perovskite panels with an efficiency of about 26%, which is about 25% more powerful than a conventional silicon solar panel.
The efficiency of solar panels is an important metric for developers of solar energy facilities. More power at a comparable price per watt results in lower installation labor costs, lower land acquisition costs and lower total cost of ownership for customers, the company said.
“This is Tandem PV’s tenth award from the Department of Energy and we are grateful for its consistent long-term investment and validation,” said Colin Bailie, co-founder and chief technology officer of Tandem PV.
The company said it has demonstrated “the equivalent of decades of expected durability” in the laboratory. Durability has been a major issue to be solved for perovskites, which exhibit high efficiency but degrade quickly in the field.
Tandem PV said it plans to obtain independent industry standard validations of the durability and efficiency of its perovskites by 2024. The company said plans are underway for an initial manufacturing facility as research and development efforts progress.
“Thanks to historic funding and actions from the President’s clean energy agenda, we are able to bring more solar power – the cheapest form of energy – to millions of Americans with panels labeled ‘made in the USA,’” said Jennifer M. Granholm, US Secretary of Energy.
Founded in 2016 in Silicon Valley, Tandem PV has raised a total of $33 million in venture capital and government funding, including from the DoE, the National Science Foundation and the California Energy Commission.
Tandem PV was selected for the $4.7 million prize as part of SETO’s Advancing the U.S. Thin-Film Solar Financing Program.
Image: Tandem PV
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