Will a UK invention make solar panels obsolete? Meet “perovskite”
Perovskite solar cell - Wikipedia
“A perovskite solar cell (PSC) is a type of solar cell that includes a perovskite-structured compound, most commonly a hybrid organic–inorganic lead or tin halide-based material as the light-harvesting active layer.[1][2] Perovskite materials, such as methylammonium lead halides and all-inorganic cesium lead halide, are cheap to produce and simple to manufacture.”
Hmm.. a few red flags! But let’s proceed with some context o the existing technology which has many more red flags!
Remember that story about the Australian solar farm that cost 100 million bucks per square mile that only works some (20-25%) of the time?
From here over a year ago, on 1 April 2023:
“Australia’s largest solar farm is close to achieving full capacity with renewables developer Noeon announcing that the last of the more than one million solar panels has now been installed at its $600 million (USD 403 million) Western Downs solar farm being developed near Chinchilla in Queensland’s southwest.
The 400 MW Western Downs solar farm is the biggest yet constructed in Australia. It encompasses 1,500 hectares and is expected to generate 1,080 GWh of clean power annually, enough to power 235,000 homes. Construction of the project has also delivered a huge boost to Queensland’s regional economies, with the state government saying it has generated an estimated $800 million in economic activity.”
“The Queensland government last year unveiled a $62 billion, 10-year energy and jobs plan, which included new renewable energy targets of 70% by 2032 and 80% by 2035.”
Queensland has a population of a little over 5 million and 2 million households. The energy company has contracted to buy 80% of the output for ten years!
Pretty big commitment in a fast-moving technology space, right?
62 billion bucks for 2 million households? 31,000 per household = 3,100 per year per household – plus the households will have to pay their (inflated) electricity bills and service the interest on the debt (3 billion a year?) or suffer increases in local taxes! How much do Queenslanders pay every year for their electricity now – and how much are they about to pay!
Hopefully, the French solar farm, built on Australian arable land is more efficient than this!
How efficient are solar panels? | Average percentage [2024] (sunsave.energy)
“Today, the average efficiency of commercially available solar panels typically ranges from about 15% to 24%. However, it's worth mentioning that the efficiency can vary depending on the type of solar panel technology used.”
20% efficiency – whatever that means1
So, here’s the breakthrough invention.
From here: (h/t Paul D)
Solar energy breakthrough could reduce need for solar farms | University of Oxford
“Oxford, 9 August 2024, Scientists at Oxford University Physics Department have developed a revolutionary approach which could generate increasing amounts of solar electricity without the need for silicon-based solar panels. Instead, their innovation works by coating a new power-generating material onto the surfaces of everyday objects like rucksacks, cars, and mobile phones.”
And buildings.
Interesting! I can already imagine AI servers wearing “clothes” made of this stuff to meet their insatiable demand for electricity!
“Their new light-absorbing material is, for the first time, thin and flexible enough to apply to the surface of almost any building or common object. Using a pioneering technique developed in Oxford, which stacks multiple light-absorbing layers into one solar cell, they have harnessed a wider range of the light spectrum, allowing more power to be generated from the same amount of sunlight.”
Splutter!!! You mean all those trillions of dollars spent on thousands of square miles of plantations of solar panels made of all those toxic materials, mined with slave labour, creating huge open sores on the earth’s surface are obsolete?
How efficient is the invention?
“This ultra-thin material, using this so-called multi-junction approach, has now been independently certified to deliver over 27% energy efficiency, for the first time matching the performance of traditional, single-layer, energy-generating materials known as silicon photovoltaics.”
Well, well. Better than existing solar panels!
What’s it made of, how scalable, how expensive, how toxic and how weatherproof?
“… Professor Henry Snaith to commercialise perovskite photovoltaics, recently started large-scale manufacturing of perovskite photovoltaics at its factory in Brandenburg-an-der-Havel, near Berlin, Germany.”
As for the answers to the questions (cost, durability, toxicity etc) – not much!
Also, sucking on the government teat via fascist public/private partnerships seems to be entrenched in attitudes – not seeking funding from investors – socialism v capitalism!
“We originally looked at UK sites to start manufacturing, but the government has yet to match the fiscal and commercial incentives on offer in other parts of Europe and the United States,” Professor Snaith said. “Thus far the UK has thought about solar energy purely in terms of building new solar farms, but the real growth will come from commercialising innovations – we very much hope that the newly-created British Energy will direct its attention to this.”
Oh well, useless governments will continue to subsidise ideas and then companies will price gouge consumers/taxpayers based on government edicts, laws and regulations that ensure protected oligopolies with revolving doors for the privileged few!
Hey, maybe they can coat the blades of the 700-foot-tall wind turbine plantations! To prevent all those micro-plastics being shed from the blades!
Tell me again why “renewable energy” is not free if all the costs have been covered by taxes?
Onwards!!!
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