<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/roll-out-the-pv-csiro-opens-flexible-solar-facility/>
"Solar cells could be printed out like newspapers after Australia’s leading
science organisation opened a $6.8 million facility dedicated to flexible solar
technology.
The CSIRO launched its state-of-the-art Printed Photovoltaic Facility in
south-east Melbourne on Wednesday, following more than 15 years of research
into the renewable energy technology.
Researchers said printed, flexible photovoltaic cells could not only lower the
cost of solar energy but could be used to deliver power in challenging areas
such as space exploration, defence and disaster recovery.
The facility, located in the Victorian suburb of Clayton, would help
researchers scale up the production of flexible solar cells and introduce the
technology to more industries, CSIRO renewable energy systems group leader
Anthony Chesman said.
“What this does is bridge the gap between the laboratory scale and larger scale
manufacturing so we can see how we replicate the process … and produce it at
larger volumes,” he told AAP.
“Straight out of the gate, we’re not looking at a printing process that’s like
newspapers where it’s super fast … but we’re working towards developing higher
speeds.”
The CSIRO’s flexible solar cells are created by printing a material called
perovskite on to thin and flexible plastic film using a roll-to-roll technique.
The process could produce more solar cells at a cheaper cost and with a lighter
weight than traditional solar panels.
They were not designed to replace current solar panels, Dr Chesman said, but to
deliver solar technology in challenging areas such as natural disaster
recovery, defence technology, greenhouses and space exploration.
“Space is one of the main applications that we see in the near term where the
existing solar cells are very efficient but they are rigid so it’s difficult to
curl them out the way we would like to, and they’re also incredibly expensive,”
he said.
“We would like to see if we can provide an alternative to that.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
