Towards market commercialization: Lifecycle economic and environmental evaluation of scalable perovskite solar cells

Many economic and environmental studies on novel perovskite solar cells (PSCs), published ex post the development stage to investigate the market competitiveness, have focused on laboratory-scale PSC architectures that are not amenable for upscaling. In this paper, we evaluate the market potential and environmental sustainability of a scalable carbon-electrode-based PSC by benchmarking it to the market dominating c-Si photovoltaics and CIGS thin film photovoltaics. The analysis covers the PSCs full lifecycle, at the module and system levels (residential and utility scale), and is based on realistic annual energy output data derived from energy yield calculations. We find that this PSC can produce electricity at low cost (3-6 eurocents/kWh), with lowest energy payback (0.6-0.8 years) and greenhouse gas emissions (15-25g CO2 eq./kWh) compared with grid-connected PV market alternatives, assuming 25years of lifetime, expected PV system cost reductions, and PSC module recycling and refurbishment.

Automated summary

This paper evaluates the market potential and environmental sustainability of a scalable carbon-electrode-based perovskite solar cell (PSC) by comparing it with other PV technologies. The results show that this PSC has advantages of low cost, short energy payback period, and low greenhouse gas emissions.