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Center for Next Generation Photovoltaics (NGPV)

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 Center for Next Generation Photovoltaics (NGPV) is addressing the key technological needs to help make solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity a major source of energy in the world.

In terms of global electrical energy use, the installed capacity of solar PV allowed it to meet approximately 0.15% (305 gigawatts) of global energy demand as of 2016. By 2030, the total amount of global solar PV capacity could generate enough to meet about 5% of anticipated global energy demand. This presents a significant challenge to the energy sector in relation to solar PV integration, manufacturing, costs, reliability, and access.

To reach solar PV deployment of this magnitude, many challenges must be overcome, including:

The total cost of PV systems must be reduced, while increasing energy conversion efficiency, reliability, and lifetime.
The capacity to cost-effectively manufacture solar cells and balance of systems components must be increased.
Methods to integrate solar PV into the utility grid must continue to improve to ensure affordable and reliable electricity.
Transportation electrification and advanced building systems must be considered, as they are creating an increase in the application for electricity.
Technologies must be improved for energy storage, catalyzed chemicals and fuels production, and water purification.

NGPV is helping to establish solar PV electricity as a major source of energy in the United States and the world, by developing new strategies for reducing costs while increasing efficiency. NGPV has targets of $0.05/kilowatt hour (kWh) for residential solar PV and $0.03/kWh for utility-scale solar PV by 2030, to ultimately help significantly reduce carbon emissions.

Universities

University of Virginia
Drexel University
Colorado State University
Stony Brook University
University of Louisiana, Lafayette
Tampere University
Texas A&M University
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
University of Texas, Austin

View Center Website

Center Personnel

Taylor Harvey
Site Co-Director
+1 254 519 5414
tharvey@tamuct.edu

W.S. Sampath
Center Deputy Director
+1 970 491 8619
Walajabad.Sampath@ColoState.EDU

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

Brian Korgel
Center Director
+1 512 471 5633
korgel@che.utexas.edu

Kurt Barth
Associate Site Director
+1 970 491 8314
kurt.barth@colostate.edu

Research Focus

NGPV research involves all aspects of the entire value chain in the solar PV industry - from fundamental cell technologies, material science, multidisciplinary engineering and technologies, to the end user - in order to advance solar PV from being an alternative energy resource to becoming a widely utilized, mainstream source of electrical energy. The materials and device research encompasses all types of materials used in the solar PV industry, including industry-leading silicon and thin film cadmium telluride (CdTe) and emerging perovskite materials. One of NGPV's research strengths is its expertise on inexpensive thin film semiconductors that can be processed using high throughput schemes involving state-of-the-art gas phase and solution-based methods. Research topics include:

Balance of systems and solar PV implementation.
Education and societal impact of solar PV.
Solar PV integration with storage and electric vehicles.
Solar PV materials, devices, and manufacturing. Future work at NGPV will focus on the development of large-area tandem or multijunction solar cells that use inexpensive thin film materials that can be deposited using high-throughput, low-cost methods. These might be solar cells combining a perovskite absorber layer with a silicon absorber layer, or a combination of CdTe and another thin film material. Typically, high-efficiency multijunction solar cells are very expensive to make and are limited to relatively small-area substrates. NGPV research targets the fabrication of low-cost tandem and multijunction solar cells with greater than 30% power conversion efficiencies.

Awards

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 >

1747785

Phase II IUCRC UNC Charlotte Site: Center for Visual and Decision Informatics (CVDI)

The Center for Visual and Decision Informatics (CVDI) focuses on developing advanced visual and decision support tools and techniques that enable decision makers to improve the way organizations' information is interpreted and exploited. This award will create a CVDI Site at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, which will focus on data science and big data analytics research related to risk mitigation in financial services, healthcare, and social good. Financial services and healthcare, along with energy, retail, and logistics are the key sectors of Charlotte's economy. On the other hand, social good is an important issue currently facing Charlotte community. Social good analytics can aid the community's effort to improve living conditions of its citizens, which will positively influence the overall workforce readiness for employers. This contribution will be measured in novel data collection mechanisms and long-term outcomes of implemented policies. The net effect will be more resilient industry, increased economic development, increased social capital, and increased economic mobility in all segments of the community. The researcher team on this award is uniquely focused on developing long-term capability for researching, understanding, and documenting risk, as well as creating tools and applications for explaining and predicting such risks. This will be accomplished through the application of data- and analytics-driven technologies, including, but not limited to, data and analytics platform, advanced visualization techniques, artificial intelligence and deep-learning algorithms, agent-based modeling and simulation, network science analysis, and systems dynamics methods. Over the next 5 years, this Site will seek to transform UNC Charlotte into the national hub of innovation and creativity for the benefit of industry and the society. 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 >

1650499

I/UCRC: Center for Visual and Decision Informatics (CVDI) Site at SUNY Stony Brook

1650551

I/UCRC Phase II Renewal: Center for Visual and Decision Informatics (CVDI)