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Center for a Solar Powered Future (SPF2050)

The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the Center author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Center Overview

The vision and long-term goal of the Center for a Solar Powered Future (SPF2050) is to enable the United States and the world to achieve a zero carbon footprint by 2050 using solar energy as a resource.

SPF2050 is catalyzing breakthrough pre-competitive research for the solar power industry by enabling close and sustained engagement between industry innovators, world-class academic teams, and government agencies. Higher performance and lower-cost solar cells are needed. Photovoltaic (PV) component and system reliability must be improved. At the end of their life, massive installations of solar cells will need to be recycled—a circular solar power economy must be created. Land use becomes a major challenge and creative, new approaches to harvesting solar energy are needed in both urban and rural environments. Sunlight’s intermittency and variability create a range of techno-economic and socio-economic challenges. Technologies are needed to store the energy. A solar-powered energy economy requires electrification and integration of the transportation and heating and cooling sectors. There are a range of interdisciplinary and multi-industry challenges.

SPF2050 is addressing these diverse, complex, multi-faceted technology challenges with PV electricity generation at the root of the problem. We still need better solar cells, but we also need complete photovoltaic and photovoltaic-integrated systems.

Universities

Texas A&M University
Arizona State University
Colorado State University
Texas A&M University, Central Texas
University of Texas, Austin

View Center Website

Center Personnel

W.S. Sampath
Center Associate Director, Site Co-Director
+1 970 430 8878
walajabad.sampath@colostate.edu

Jim Sites
Center Deputy Director, Site Co-Director
+1 970 491 6206
James.Sites@colostate.edu

Robert Balog
Site Co-Director
+1 979 862 4985
rbalog@tamu.edu

Russell Porter
Site Co-Director
+1 254 501 5823
porter@tamuct.edu

Yong-Hang Zhang
Site Director
yhzhang@asu.edu

Research Focus

SPF2050 has several research focus areas:

enabling higher performance and lower cost solar cells;
improving the reliability of PV components and systems;
developing new, and effective ways to recycle end-of-life materials and devices;
informing the creation of a circular solar power economy;
developing creative, new approaches to land use in both rural and urban environments;
integrating emerging storage technologies with solar power generation to alleviate problems of intermittency and variability;
addressing techno-economic and socio-economic challenges; and
identifying new approaches to solar-powered electrification of transportation, heating and cooling sectors.

Our team is well equipped to pursue a diverse array of research projects, with facilities and equipment that encompass all facets of PV research, fabrication, and characterization, including:

manufacturing of all types of PV materials (CIGS, CdTe, Si, metal halide perovskites, transparent conductors, transport layers, packaging materials and coatings); balance of systems and power electronics; reliability and packaging;
electron and specialized microscopy; spectroscopy, luminescence, X-ray and electron scattering characterization; electrochemistry and electronic transport studies; and
socio-economic, techno-economic and big data research capabilities.

Awards

2052814

IUCRC Phase III - The University of Texas at Austin: Center for a Solar Powered Future (SPF2050)

The Center for a Solar Powered Future (SPF2050) is an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) that performs research relevant to the solar power industry. Sunlight provides a widely available energy source that can be converted directly to electricity by photovoltaic (PV) devices, or solar cells, without generating pollution, emissions or greenhouse gases during operation. The vision of SPF2050 is to enable the US and the world to achieve a zero-carbon footprint by 2050 using solar energy as a resource. SPF2050 promotes close and sustained engagement between industry innovators, world-class academic teams, and government agencies to develop higher performance and lower cost solar cells, improve PV component and system reliability, and enable widespread adoption and use of solar power systems by addressing the extensive range of diverse, complex, multi-faceted, interdisciplinary and multi-industry technology challenges associated with the use of solar power. SPF2050 research catalyzes economic growth and development, while providing educational opportunities to students, young scholars and faculty researchers to create a diverse and highly trained workforce as well as next generation of industry leaders. SPF2050 is also active in public education and societal outreach.

Global energy sustainability represents one of the most important challenges facing modern society. Even with today’s significant growth rate for PV deployment, it will take several decades to achieve a majority of carbon-free energy for the world. Increased use of PV electricity requires step-change improvements in PV technology, cost, and societal perspective. Research performed at the University of Texas - Austin site in SPF2050 ranges from the development of multijunction and bifacial thin film PV with ultrahigh efficiency and performance to user-deployable, light-weight and inexpensive PVs to power internet-of-things devices. Research efforts also include increased understanding of semiconductor materials and interface properties, improved PV device design and manufacturing, improved performance and reliability of PV components and systems, development of new, more effective ways to recycle at end-of-life, and the creation of a circular solar power economy. The Center also explores creative, new approaches to land use in both rural and urban environments, integration of emerging storage technologies with solar power generation to alleviate problems of intermittency and variability, techno-economic and socio-economic challenges associated with widespread solar power use, and identification of new approaches to solar-powered electrification in transportation, heating and cooling sectors.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >

1624539

Phase II I/UCRC Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station Site: Center for Next Generation Photovoltaics

Phase II I/UCRC Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station Site: Center for Next Generation Photovoltaics

Texas A&M University (TAMU) joins the existing NSF I/UCRC Next Generation Photovoltaic Center (Center) which presently operates as a Phase II Center with research sites at the University of Texas-Austin (UTA) and Colorado State University (CSU). Energy security and sustainability is one of the grand challenges facing modern societies. The long-term vision of this research center it to bring together the science, engineering, education, policy advances to enable widespread adoption of solar energy. While the cost of the photovoltaic (PV) "solar cell" has dropped significantly, there are numerous challenges that remain that must be addressed before electricity generated directly from the sun can become a cost-competitive with traditional sources. The addition of Texas A&M University enables the center to address the balance-of-system (BOS) issues that lie at that interface of solar cells into the electrical grid.

The TAMU site will specialize in the end-to-end continuous spectrum of PV BOS technologies that are not a current focus of the Center. There are also numerous non-technical issues that create challenges for the PV industry. These so-called ?soft-cost? of the balance-of-system will also be part of the TAMU Site research agenda. The scope of the TAMU ? BOS Site (Site) will enable the Center to assess the entire solar industry, bringing value to all stake-holders from OEM equipment manufacturers, through systems integration, to end-customers and consumers. Because of this wide scope, the Site will be positioned to impact the industry through a scientifically-based, data driven research, design, and development process that is not currently available to individual BOS organizations. The TAMU Site will concentrate on research that assesses predictors of technology outcomes and global imprint of solar energy, along with solar costs, as indicated through technology teams, funding sources, collection technologies, as well as enhancing Center research on PV and additional conversion solar variables. Read More >

2052735

IUCRC Phase III Colorado State University: Center for a Solar Powered Future (SPF2050)

Energy sustainability represents one of the grand challenges facing modern society; Solar power provides an important source of renewable energy. Photovoltaics (PV) or solar cells are solid-state, semiconductor-based devices that convert sunlight directly to electricity and do not generate pollution, emissions, or greenhouse gases during operation. The I/UCRC for Solar a Powered Future is focuses on PV research. The center promotes science and advances prosperity and welfare through the Center's ongoing research and education programs. These programs are focused on bringing down PV system costs, increasing PV system efficiencies, and enabling the widespread the use of PV electricity. The Center's research vision is to enable the US and the world achieve a zero-carbon footprint by 2050 using solar energy as a resource. There are currently two research sites in the Center: Colorado State University (CSU) and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). The PV-training approach at CSU is strongly team based: students from different disciplines including a significant number of women and veterans, work closely with each other, with engineers from industry, and, in many cases, with students at other universities.

The CSU site is focused on reducing the cost of solar energy by advancing thin film PV device performance, performing state-of-the-art materials characterization, streamlining manufacturing, performing quantum simulation, and improving module reliability. A key goal of the CSU site is to advance the state of the art by designing PV device structures with higher efficiencies, advanced module package designs, and advanced materials and materials characterization. A key research thrust is to demonstrate still higher cell efficiencies. Quantum simulations will aid this research. Reducing module manufacturing and materials costs while improving reliability and facilitating deployment are additional areas of focus. These advances have been demonstrated on pilot scale systems with a direct line of sight to industrial manufacturing. The efforts will lead to lower LCOE (levelized cost of electricity) and help facilitate the goal of 2-3 cents/kWhr. Overall, center has the potential to both increase the impact of the multi-billion-dollar U.S. PV industry that is growing rapidly and greatly expand the application of solar electricity.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >

Member Organizations

IUCRC affiliated member organizations are displayed as submitted by the Center. Non-federal organizations are not selected, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the National Science Foundation.