Terawatt-scale photovoltaics: Transform global energy

Nancy M. Haegel; Harry Atwater; Teresa Barnes; Christian Breyer; Anthony Burrell; Yet-Ming Chiang; Stefaan De Wolf; Bernhard Dimmler; David Feldman; Stefan Glunz; Jan Christoph Goldschmidt; David Hochschild; Ruben Inzunza; Izumi Kaizuka; Ben Kroposki; Sarah Kurtz; Sylvere Leu; Robert Margolis; Koji Matsubara; Axel Metz; Wyatt K. Metzger; Mahesh Morjaria; Shigeru Niki; Stefan Nowak; Ian Marius Peters; Simon Philipps; Thomas Reindl; Andre Richter; Doug Rose; Keiichiro Sakurai; Rutger Schlatmann; Masahiro Shikano; Wim Sinke; Ron Sinton; B.J. Stanbery; Marko Topic; William Tumas; Yuzuru Ueda; Jao van de Lagemaat; Pierre Verlinden; Matthias Vetter; Emily Warren; Mary Werner; Masafumi Yamaguchi; Andreas W. Bett

doi:10.1126/science.aaw1845

Terawatt-scale photovoltaics: Transform global energy

Nancy M. Haegel, Harry Atwater, Teresa Barnes, Christian Breyer, Anthony Burrell, Yet-Ming Chiang, Stefaan De Wolf, Bernhard Dimmler, David Feldman, Stefan Glunz, Jan Christoph Goldschmidt, David Hochschild, Ruben Inzunza, Izumi Kaizuka, Ben Kroposki, Sarah Kurtz, Sylvere Leu, Robert Margolis, Koji Matsubara, Axel MetzWyatt K. Metzger, Mahesh Morjaria, Shigeru Niki, Stefan Nowak, Ian Marius Peters, Simon Philipps, Thomas Reindl, Andre Richter, Doug Rose, Keiichiro Sakurai, Rutger Schlatmann, Masahiro Shikano, Wim Sinke, Ron Sinton, B.J. Stanbery, Marko Topic, William Tumas, Yuzuru Ueda, Jao van de Lagemaat, Pierre Verlinden, Matthias Vetter, Emily Warren, Mary Werner, Masafumi Yamaguchi, Andreas W. Bett

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

367 Scopus citations

Abstract

Solar energy has the potential to play a central role in the future global energy system because of the scale of the solar resource, its predictability, and its ubiquitous nature. Global installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity exceeded 500 GW at the end of 2018, and an estimated additional 500 GW of PV capacity is projected to be installed by 2022–2023, bringing us into the era of TW-scale PV. Given the speed of change in the PV industry, both in terms of continued dramatic cost decreases and manufacturing-scale increases, the growth toward TW-scale PV has caught many observers, including many of us (1), by surprise. Two years ago, we focused on the challenges of achieving 3 to 10 TW of PV by 2030. Here, we envision a future with ∼10 TW of PV by 2030 and 30 to 70 TW by 2050, providing a majority of global energy. PV would be not just a key contributor to electricity generation but also a central contributor to all segments of the global energy system. We discuss ramifications and challenges for complementary technologies (e.g., energy storage, power to gas/liquid fuels/chemicals, grid integration, and multiple sector electrification) and summarize what is needed in research in PV performance, reliability, manufacturing, and recycling.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	836-838
Number of pages	3
Journal	Science
Volume	364
Issue number	6443
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw1845
State	Published - May 30 2019

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: We thank L. Steinman for reference work, and D. Gwinner for editorial support. This paper was informed by the 2nd Terawatt Workshop convened in Golden, CO, by the Global Alliance of Solar Energy Research Institutes, April 2018. This work was supported at NREL through a strategic initiative. NREL is operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract no. DE-AC36-08GO28308.

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10.1126/science.aaw1845

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Haegel, N. M., Atwater, H., Barnes, T., Breyer, C., Burrell, A., Chiang, Y.-M., De Wolf, S., Dimmler, B., Feldman, D., Glunz, S., Goldschmidt, J. C., Hochschild, D., Inzunza, R., Kaizuka, I., Kroposki, B., Kurtz, S., Leu, S., Margolis, R., Matsubara, K., ... Bett, A. W. (2019). Terawatt-scale photovoltaics: Transform global energy. Science, 364(6443), 836-838. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw1845

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title = "Terawatt-scale photovoltaics: Transform global energy",

abstract = "Solar energy has the potential to play a central role in the future global energy system because of the scale of the solar resource, its predictability, and its ubiquitous nature. Global installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity exceeded 500 GW at the end of 2018, and an estimated additional 500 GW of PV capacity is projected to be installed by 2022–2023, bringing us into the era of TW-scale PV. Given the speed of change in the PV industry, both in terms of continued dramatic cost decreases and manufacturing-scale increases, the growth toward TW-scale PV has caught many observers, including many of us (1), by surprise. Two years ago, we focused on the challenges of achieving 3 to 10 TW of PV by 2030. Here, we envision a future with ∼10 TW of PV by 2030 and 30 to 70 TW by 2050, providing a majority of global energy. PV would be not just a key contributor to electricity generation but also a central contributor to all segments of the global energy system. We discuss ramifications and challenges for complementary technologies (e.g., energy storage, power to gas/liquid fuels/chemicals, grid integration, and multiple sector electrification) and summarize what is needed in research in PV performance, reliability, manufacturing, and recycling.",

author = "Haegel, {Nancy M.} and Harry Atwater and Teresa Barnes and Christian Breyer and Anthony Burrell and Yet-Ming Chiang and {De Wolf}, Stefaan and Bernhard Dimmler and David Feldman and Stefan Glunz and Goldschmidt, {Jan Christoph} and David Hochschild and Ruben Inzunza and Izumi Kaizuka and Ben Kroposki and Sarah Kurtz and Sylvere Leu and Robert Margolis and Koji Matsubara and Axel Metz and Metzger, {Wyatt K.} and Mahesh Morjaria and Shigeru Niki and Stefan Nowak and Peters, {Ian Marius} and Simon Philipps and Thomas Reindl and Andre Richter and Doug Rose and Keiichiro Sakurai and Rutger Schlatmann and Masahiro Shikano and Wim Sinke and Ron Sinton and B.J. Stanbery and Marko Topic and William Tumas and Yuzuru Ueda and {van de Lagemaat}, Jao and Pierre Verlinden and Matthias Vetter and Emily Warren and Mary Werner and Masafumi Yamaguchi and Bett, {Andreas W.}",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledgements: We thank L. Steinman for reference work, and D. Gwinner for editorial support. This paper was informed by the 2nd Terawatt Workshop convened in Golden, CO, by the Global Alliance of Solar Energy Research Institutes, April 2018. This work was supported at NREL through a strategic initiative. NREL is operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract no. DE-AC36-08GO28308.",

year = "2019",

month = may,

day = "30",

doi = "10.1126/science.aaw1845",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "364",

pages = "836--838",

journal = "Science",

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Haegel, NM, Atwater, H, Barnes, T, Breyer, C, Burrell, A, Chiang, Y-M, De Wolf, S, Dimmler, B, Feldman, D, Glunz, S, Goldschmidt, JC, Hochschild, D, Inzunza, R, Kaizuka, I, Kroposki, B, Kurtz, S, Leu, S, Margolis, R, Matsubara, K, Metz, A, Metzger, WK, Morjaria, M, Niki, S, Nowak, S, Peters, IM, Philipps, S, Reindl, T, Richter, A, Rose, D, Sakurai, K, Schlatmann, R, Shikano, M, Sinke, W, Sinton, R, Stanbery, BJ, Topic, M, Tumas, W, Ueda, Y, van de Lagemaat, J, Verlinden, P, Vetter, M, Warren, E, Werner, M, Yamaguchi, M & Bett, AW 2019, 'Terawatt-scale photovoltaics: Transform global energy', Science, vol. 364, no. 6443, pp. 836-838. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw1845

TY - JOUR

T1 - Terawatt-scale photovoltaics: Transform global energy

AU - Haegel, Nancy M.

AU - Atwater, Harry

AU - Barnes, Teresa

AU - Breyer, Christian

AU - Burrell, Anthony

AU - Chiang, Yet-Ming

AU - De Wolf, Stefaan

AU - Dimmler, Bernhard

AU - Feldman, David

AU - Glunz, Stefan

AU - Goldschmidt, Jan Christoph

AU - Hochschild, David

AU - Inzunza, Ruben

AU - Kaizuka, Izumi

AU - Kroposki, Ben

AU - Kurtz, Sarah

AU - Leu, Sylvere

AU - Margolis, Robert

AU - Matsubara, Koji

AU - Metz, Axel

AU - Metzger, Wyatt K.

AU - Morjaria, Mahesh

AU - Niki, Shigeru

AU - Nowak, Stefan

AU - Peters, Ian Marius

AU - Philipps, Simon

AU - Reindl, Thomas

AU - Richter, Andre

AU - Rose, Doug

AU - Sakurai, Keiichiro

AU - Schlatmann, Rutger

AU - Shikano, Masahiro

AU - Sinke, Wim

AU - Sinton, Ron

AU - Stanbery, B.J.

AU - Topic, Marko

AU - Tumas, William

AU - Ueda, Yuzuru

AU - van de Lagemaat, Jao

AU - Verlinden, Pierre

AU - Vetter, Matthias

AU - Warren, Emily

AU - Werner, Mary

AU - Yamaguchi, Masafumi

AU - Bett, Andreas W.

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledgements: We thank L. Steinman for reference work, and D. Gwinner for editorial support. This paper was informed by the 2nd Terawatt Workshop convened in Golden, CO, by the Global Alliance of Solar Energy Research Institutes, April 2018. This work was supported at NREL through a strategic initiative. NREL is operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract no. DE-AC36-08GO28308.

PY - 2019/5/30

Y1 - 2019/5/30

N2 - Solar energy has the potential to play a central role in the future global energy system because of the scale of the solar resource, its predictability, and its ubiquitous nature. Global installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity exceeded 500 GW at the end of 2018, and an estimated additional 500 GW of PV capacity is projected to be installed by 2022–2023, bringing us into the era of TW-scale PV. Given the speed of change in the PV industry, both in terms of continued dramatic cost decreases and manufacturing-scale increases, the growth toward TW-scale PV has caught many observers, including many of us (1), by surprise. Two years ago, we focused on the challenges of achieving 3 to 10 TW of PV by 2030. Here, we envision a future with ∼10 TW of PV by 2030 and 30 to 70 TW by 2050, providing a majority of global energy. PV would be not just a key contributor to electricity generation but also a central contributor to all segments of the global energy system. We discuss ramifications and challenges for complementary technologies (e.g., energy storage, power to gas/liquid fuels/chemicals, grid integration, and multiple sector electrification) and summarize what is needed in research in PV performance, reliability, manufacturing, and recycling.

AB - Solar energy has the potential to play a central role in the future global energy system because of the scale of the solar resource, its predictability, and its ubiquitous nature. Global installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity exceeded 500 GW at the end of 2018, and an estimated additional 500 GW of PV capacity is projected to be installed by 2022–2023, bringing us into the era of TW-scale PV. Given the speed of change in the PV industry, both in terms of continued dramatic cost decreases and manufacturing-scale increases, the growth toward TW-scale PV has caught many observers, including many of us (1), by surprise. Two years ago, we focused on the challenges of achieving 3 to 10 TW of PV by 2030. Here, we envision a future with ∼10 TW of PV by 2030 and 30 to 70 TW by 2050, providing a majority of global energy. PV would be not just a key contributor to electricity generation but also a central contributor to all segments of the global energy system. We discuss ramifications and challenges for complementary technologies (e.g., energy storage, power to gas/liquid fuels/chemicals, grid integration, and multiple sector electrification) and summarize what is needed in research in PV performance, reliability, manufacturing, and recycling.

UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/660224

UR - http://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/rapidpdf/364/6443/836?ijkey=plu.0lQn4Q1fI&keytype=ref&siteid=sci

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DO - 10.1126/science.aaw1845

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SN - 0036-8075

VL - 364

SP - 836

EP - 838

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6443

ER -

Terawatt-scale photovoltaics: Transform global energy

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

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