A team of researchers led by experts at Durham University has announced plans for one of the UK's largest ever research projects into photovoltaic solar energy.
The four-year £6.3m PV-21 programme will focus on making thin-film light absorbing cells for solar panels from sustainable and affordable materials.
The project begins in April 2008 and is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under the Supergen initiative.
Eight UK universities, led by Durham, are involved in the project: Bangor, Bath, Cranfield, Edinburgh, Imperial College London, Northumbria and Southampton.
They will work together with nine industrial partners towards a "medium to long-term goal" of making solar energy more competitive and sustainable, particularly in light of the recent rise in fossil fuel prices.
Solar cells are currently made from components such as the rare and expensive metal indium which costs approximately £320 a kilogram. The research team intends to reduce the thickness of the cells to cut production costs.
Making a solar semiconductor thinner by one millionth of a metre in solar cells generating one gigawatt of power could save 50 tonnes of material, the researchers estimate.
The team will also experiment with sustainable low-cost materials which could be used in the manufacturing of solar cells and on the use of nanotechnology and dyes on ultra-thin silicon to capture increased amounts of energy from the Sun's rays.
Principal investigator Ken Durose, a professor in the Department of Physics at Durham University, said: "With the rapid increase in fossil fuel prices and the recent government announcement about investment in nuclear power it is even more important that we look at long-term future energy generation from solar power.
"At present you would need tens of tonnes of very rare and expensive materials for large scale production of solar cells to produce sizeable amounts of power.
"Some of the materials currently used may not be sustainable in 20 years' time which is why we have to conduct research into alternative materials that are cheaper to buy and more sustainable.
"Our medium to long-term goal is to make a major contribution to achieving competitive photovoltaic solar energy, which we hope will lead to an uptake in the use of solar power."
New cycle of solar activity could be highly disruptive 08 Jan 2008
Computer chip cooling technology could allow solar cells to operate at temperatures of over 1,600 degrees Celsius, drastically improving efficiency and cutting costs 15 May 2008Breakthrough at Northwestern University promises cheaper solar cells 25 Feb 2008Carbon Trust stumps up £5m for Cambridge-based research project into low-cost organic solar photovoltaic technologies 05 Oct 2007
University of Swansea working with metals giant Corus on photovoltaic solar cells that could be "painted" onto steel as it is manufactured 10 Mar 2008
Intelligent Energy ramps up funding for R&D and partnerships 04 Jul 2008
Focus on energy savings through fuel efficiency for homes and public and commercial buildings 04 Jul 2008
ActionAid accuses G8 of driving more people into poverty by pursing biofuels and cutting agri-aid 04 Jul 2008
More news
Businesses' new found focus on the environment may be welcome, but according to Conrad MacKerron, it is taking attention away from workers' rights issues – and the credibility of the entire green business movement could be at risk 03 Jul 2008
It may be a year old, but as Dell's Jonathan Perry explains, firms looking to get rid of their old IT kit still need to pay attention to the WEEE directive 02 Jul 2008
Telling customers about your environmental targets is all well and good but, as Paul Thomas argues, they are meaningless if you do not know how they are to be achieved 01 Jul 2008 More in-depth
Post your comment
Send an email to the Business Green editor at feedback@businessgreen.com
