PROMISE – Photovoltaics Reliability Operations and Maintenance Innovative Solutions for Energy Alliance
PROMISE aims to create (i) an alliance of photovoltaic excellence through scientific, engineering and research performance within the Maltese research community; (ii) reliability of existing and emerging module technologies and systems including the digitalisation aspects for prediction; (iii) and optimisation algorithms for innovative solutions to support the energy transition.
CECOM4PV: PhotoVoltaic Devices based on Ceramic Materials and Composites
The main objective is to develop, from standard ceramic-based products used in building envelopes, new products for use in energy-efficient building envelopes, such as roofing elements, tiles, which integrate the generation of electrical energy from photovoltaic elements on the way to achieving near-zero energy buildings.
TITAN-PV: Development of advanced metallic inks for photovoltaics
Summary: This project aims to develop advanced metallic inks for the photovoltaic solar cell sector of standard crystalline silicon technology.
VIPERLAB, Fully connected virtual and physical perovskite photovoltaics lab
The objective of the VIPERLAB project is to promote a photovoltaic solar energy manufacturing industry based on perovskites in Europe, which will have a significant socio-economic impact due to the creation of a new industrial sector. This sector is also expected to form the backbone for photovoltaic energy manufacturing in the EU to regain global leadership throughout its value chain. To this end, VIPERLAB will share access to the best perovskite development laboratories in the EU with European researchers from academia and industry to work together on the research and development of the next generation of perovskite-based solar cell technology, laboratory and pre-industrial scale.
AISOVOL-2: Adaptive photovoltaic generation solution for use in building and distributed generation
The main goal of the project consists in the development and manufacturing of a multipurpose and versatile photovoltaic module that increases the architectural resources available both for the photovoltaic technology adapted in buildings and for the technology integrated in the building structure itself, using cutting-edge materials and the latest photovoltaic technology as bifacial cells. AISOVOL2 introduces alternatives in the photovoltaic module design to overcome the difficulties encountered during the first part of the project.
HESITSC: Development of high efficiency III-V cells on c-Si
Project objective: Monolithic growth of III-V materials on crystalline silicon substrates to make a tandem cell, minimizing the amount of crystalline defects produced by crystal lattice mismatch between materials.
Project SIGMATRACKERS
The project SIGMATRACKERS, was born as a natural continuation of the “SIGMASOLES” project: The innovation of photovoltaic concentration in Spain “. The main objective is the R + D + i for the development of followers for high concentration photovoltaic systems.
The objective is the transfer of the technology obtained in order to achieve a validated and reliable product, which is easily industrialized and at low cost.
Project SIGMAPLANTAS
The main objective of the Project is the development of the optimum methodology for the activities of installation and study of energetic production capacity of CPV plants. For that, and through R & D and innovation activities, studies of interconnection, plant management and proposals for production models for high CPV systems will be done. The transfer of the technology developed will allow achieving the final goal of install plants more reliable, of lower cost, more operative and making the market feel confident about them.
Project INNPACTO-ECLIPSE: “Photovoltaic module eclipse for greenhouses”
The main purpose of ECLIPSE project is development of a photovoltaic system for integration in greenhouses, which meets the following conditions, aimed at substantially improving energy efficiency in glass greenhouses
Project Innpacto-S-Ligth project: Multifunctional photovoltaic solutions for integration in buildings based on lightweight materials
The objective of the S-Light project is the development of multifunctional photovoltaic solutions for building applications based on an alternative cell encapsulation technology to those used mostly in the photovoltaic industry and based on the use of lightweight composite materials.
INSPEC-PV: Development of inspection techniques for polymeric encapsulations for photovoltaic modules
The main objective of the project is to develop non-destructive, real-time inspection techniques for the encapsulant material of photovoltaic modules. The development of these techniques, based on terahertz and UV fluorescence technology, aims to extend the inspection methods for these materials and to gain confidence in one of the most vulnerable parts of photovoltaic modules, the encapsulant material.
Three parameters have been identified to evaluate the quality of the encapsulant material and its state of degradation: thickness, adhesion (and water ingress) and degree of polymerization. The measurements made using terahertz spectroscopy and UV fluorescence techniques to determine these parameters will be validated using traditional destructive methods, commonly used in the photovoltaic industry. In addition to this, the second phase of the project will involve the development of a photovoltaic module inspection system, which is expected to achieve a TRL 3-4 level. The development of the project will allow comparing both techniques and assessing their degree of complementarity when analyzing non-destructively the characteristics identified for the evaluation of the quality of the encapsulating material and its state of degradation.
Development of Photonic Structures for Photovoltaic Applications
This project proposes the development of photonic structures applied to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic modules based on both thin film technology and standard wafer-based crystalline silicon.
Optimisation of the efficiency of photovoltaic panels based on multifunctional nano-coatings (OPTIMUMPV)
The project OptimumPV aims to develop an innovative and multifunctional coating to increase the conversion efficiency of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) solar modules and to reduce their operation and maintenance costs based on three different approaches: self-cleaning, reflection of infrared radiation (IR), which increases the temperature of the module, thus reducing its performance, and luminescence, to convert ultraviolet light, which is not absorbed by the solar cell, into visible light, which is absorbed to produce electricity.
OPTISOLAR: optimization of PV Solar Trackers (2014-2015)
The overall target of the project is to develop a solar tracker for concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) with following characteristics: very accurate, robustness and low cost. It is targeted to regions with high direct radiation, with sites with adverse environmental conditions. An attractive and competitive proposal to the international market (for certain regions) should be presented. Tasks to develop are as follows:
- PV Tracker requirements definition
- System design and development of high precision equipment
- Manufacturing, installation and commissioning
- Validation tests in situ for PV trackers
- Energy production characterization for CPV trackers
- Spreading and coordination
The overall target for CENER is to improve the competitiveness of companies in the renewable energy sector, meeting their needs for R+D+i and driving technological and commercial development of renewable energy.
- This project has been funded by the Government of Navarre and is 50% co-financed by European Union FEDER funds.
POLYGLASS (2010-2012)
FP7 EU-SME. Development of a new technology CPV module. CENER participated in the characterization tests of the concentration optics.
DEPHOTEX (2008-2011)
FP7 EU work program. Development of photovoltaic textiles based on innovative fibers. CENER worked on TCO process development and characterization of the textile-based PV devices obtained.
MICROSIL (2007-2010)
Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry. Design and industrialization of Silicon thin film and heterojunction PV technologies. CENER was responsible for the testing, characterization and study of efficiency limiting factors of the samples obtained.
BITHINK (2005-2008)
FP6 EU work program. Bifacial Thin Industrial multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells. Research on the reduction of PV cells thickness in order to lower the cost. CENER participated in the study of the mechanical properties of Silicon wafers and Bifacial PV devices characterization.
