Achieving an efficient and sustainable photovoltaic (PV) system is a must to power the increasing energetic demands in multiple areas and contexts, in a non-detrimental way to the environment and society. Halide perovskites (HaP) have revolutionized the field due to their high photoconversion performance at the laboratory scale. Consequently, the commercialization of HaP solar cells (PSCs) is now a high-priority topic involving many research groups and companies worldwide. However, mass production methods to fabricate highly efficient, stable PSCs in a safe and sustainable manner present scientific and technological challenges, and fabrication methods at the lab scale cannot be upscaled. To face this situation HEPAFLEX proposes to develop high-performance flexible PSCs, adaptable to multiple contexts, by redesigning the processing approach. The project will address large-area efficiency by combining rapid photonic annealing and large-area thin-film fabrication methods with green chemistry routes. This high thruput approach based on versatile cost-effective flexible substrates presents an opportunity to reduce the environmental and economic impact of the cells, ensuring the versatility of use in multiple applications, allowing for the HEPAFLEX flexible substitution strategy that will extend the effective lifetime of rigid high power supply modules >25 years reducing current photovoltaics’ cost and carbon footprint. The development of the same unique process will also enable pure flexible non-utility scale applications that maintain the highest efficiencies. These currently unfeasible applications will reduce competition between different kinds of land use. The project will ensure the safety of the technology with Pb-sequestration additive active sealants, integrated with recycling methods to reuse the materials. HEPAFLEX will establish a sustainable PV technology based on manufacturing circularity, flexibility, versatility, replacement and recycling.

SolMates aims to provide a novel industrial, scalable technology for producing flexible, durable, made-to-measure, two-terminal CIGSe/perovskite multijunction thin-film PV modules. By optimized matching of narrow bandgap CIGS bottom cells on flexible substrates (steel, polyimide and flexible glass) with high bandgap perovskite top cells, a conversion efficiency higher than 30% (1cm²) will be reached. The focus on roll-to-roll compatible large-area high-rate deposition techniques for both layer systems in combination with the development of in-line quality control units for defect detection will lead to a minimized cell-to-module gap and full industrial scale-up after the project ends. SolMates will demonstrate a 100 cm² flexible, lightweight, durable, encapsulated monolithic interconnected tandem thin-film module with more than 25%. Due to a unique serial interconnection the made-to-measure production of highly-efficient PV modules in respect to shape, size and output voltage based on multijunction solar cells will become a reality. The developed technologies boost the power output of flexible thin-film PV, paving the way for the uptake of long awaited applications such as integrated PV. By exploiting already existing surfaces for solar energy generation, land-use conflicts will be minimized and the total costs for PV can be reduced. The involved, innovation driven SMEs will cooperate with the research partners to facilitate a pathway to mass production, low-cost, roll-to-roll fabrication of SoleMates’ PV technology and strenghten the EU PV value chain. The environmental footprint of the technology, which is inherently low for thin film devices with thin, flexible, lightweight substrates and encapsulation, will be carefully assessed with respect to SolMates' recycling strategy. Possible end-use applications will be reviewed and a long-term vision, focusing on the environmental, social and economic benefits of utilising PV in our daily lives will be developed.

Renewable energies provide clean, inexhaustible, and increasingly competitive energy source differing from fossil fuels in diversity, abundance, and potential for use. Solar energy capacity in European Union has been increasing in recent years with Germany, Spain and Poland leading the way in new installations. In 2022, the European Union added a record-breaking 41.4GW of solar power, increasing the total solar power capacity by 25%. Within the solar energy market, perovskite-based solar cells (PSCs) will contribute significantly towards the overall mix of solar energy due to PSCs differentiators compare to other solar Photovoltaic technologies of: (i) low-cost, (ii) excellent power-to-weight performance and (iii) high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 25.7% at lab-scale in 2022, up from 3.8% in 2009. A key challenge of PSC technology is replication at large-scale as there is a substantial difference in performance from small-area cell (lab-scale) and large-area module performance. PERSEUS is designed to establish a foundation for PSC production and application development within Europe. The project will develop and demonstrate 3 different large area PSC architectures that offer broad adoption potential across multiple industries such as Floating Photovoltaics, Building Integrated and Applied Photovoltaics, Agri-Photovoltaics and Urban Photovoltaics. As each end-user requires different properties (e.g. performance, lifetime and cost targets), PERSEUS will develop parallel solutions to meet end-user needs covering: (1) single-junction opaque modules (2) semi-transparent modules and (3) 4T Perovskite + CIGS tandem module architectures. These will be translated into ‘blueprints’, of multi-stage manufacturing line(s) which have validated, matched outputs and allow immediate post-project progress to the commercialization phase.

Current recycling practices for Photovoltaic (PV) waste modules are unrefined and recover low volume and low value materials. To be economical and sustainable the recycling of PV waste needs to efficiently recover all of the material constituents at a quality suitable for the reuse in new PVs, with minimal impact. APOLLO will create a circular approach to link legacy recycling, future production and future recycling. A pilot line will be demonstrated and used to process an input of 40 tonnes of PV waste which will be recycled, resulting in enough reclaimed materials for 1 tonne of remanufactured silicon and 30 exemplar PV modules. Incoming modules will be streamed by glass composition, enabling batch recovery of high-quality glass, to be used for new solar-grade glass. A novel continuous ‘sonification’ technique, (ultrasonically excited etchant) will rapidly separate silicon, silver, copper and other metals in a sequence along a pipe-based process. Used liquid etchants will be recycled in a closed loop resulting in low waste, small footprint. Further, recovered silicon will be refined to a purity suitable for new PV-grade ingot growth. The objective is to deliver purified silicon with a minimum purity of 99.9999%. Multiple innovations increase the percentage weight recovery from 18% to 93%. APOLLO will prove the suitability of the recycled silicon by growing new ingots, manufacturing solar cells and then new PV modules. 20 PERC-based modules, 10 Tandem modules and 30sqm of single junction perovskite cells will be made. These modules will incorporate new designs, materials and manufacturing methods, and be designed for disassembly and recycling. Blockchain-based Digital Product Passports (DPPs) for PV will be designed and implemented as well as an online marketplace for reused, remanufactured and/or recycled PV components. DPPs provide secure and trustworthy data for the life of the product and aid recycling by supplying material, hazards and history on request.