The DISC project addresses the need to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels by developing key technologies for the next generation of high-performance photovoltaic (PV) solar cells and modules, allowing ultra-low solar electricity costs with minimum environmental impact. DISC focuses on the only way to fully exploit the potential of silicon to its maximum: through the use of carrier selective junctions, i.e., contacts which allow charge carriers to be extracted without recombination. Such contacts allow for simple device architecture as considered in DISC - non-patterned double-side contacted cells – which can be fabricated within a lean process flow, either by upgrading existing or within future production lines. In DISC, a unique consortium of experienced industrial actors will collaborate with a set of institutes with demonstrated record devices and worldwide exceptional experience in the R&D field of carrier selective contacts. DISC will target efficiencies >25.5% on large area cell and >22% at module level while demonstrating pilot manufacturing readiness at competitive costs. Together with a reduction of non-abundant material consumption (Ag, In), with an enhancement of the energy yield, with modern module design ensuring outstanding durability, DISC will provide the key elements for achieving in Europe very low Levelized Costs of Electricity between 0.04 – 0.07$/kWh (depending on the irradiation), with mid-term potential for further reduction, making solar one of the cheapest electricity source. The high efficient PV modules developed in DISC are predestined for rooftop installations, i.e., neutral with respect to land use aspects. A life cycle approach applied in DISC prevents the shifting of environmental or social burdens between impact categories. DISC has a chance to contribute towards mitigating the impacts of climate change, improving energy access and towards bringing Europe back at the forefront of solar cell science, technology and manufacturing

Today’s world PV market is dominated by standard crystalline solar cells (so-called Al-BSF cells) and part of the market is shifting to PERC solar cells. The shift is obtained by introducing three additional process steps to the standard process (rear side cleaning, passivation and laser opening), and allows a gain of typically 1% absolute in efficiency. Next generation c-Si technologies should feature higher voltage solar cells with higher efficiency and less processing steps in the manufacturing, allowing for further cost reduction, both at the PV panel level and for the final cost of solar electricity. AMPERE focuses on technologies with such a potential and capitalizes on the high tech investments made in Europe over the last decade for establishing advanced manufacturing processes for crystalline silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells and modules, on the development of hardware capable of coating at high speed and low cost homogeneous materials of high electronic quality. It also bases on the unique expertise gained in production of thin film modules, and in all hardware issues related to large area coatings in production environment, which can applied for the production of SHJ cells and modules. The final goal of the project is t the setting-up of a 100 MW full-scale automated pilot line in production environment at the 3Sun fab, while preparing the next steps to 300 MW and GW scale. The project will operate with the support of full technology platforms for solar cells at CEA and the platform for advanced module technologies at MBS. It will demonstrate practically the ultra-low cost potential of such manufacturing approaches, as well as the even more impressively low solar electricity generation costs thanks to high efficiency and/or intrinsic bifaciality of the selected technologies.