ARENA awards USD 28.5m to research projects for cheaper solar

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) said on Wednesday it has allocated AUD 41.5 million (USD 28.5m/EUR 26.9m) in funding to 13 research projects to help achieve ultra low cost solar.

The projects are led by three universities -- the University of New South Wales, the Australian National University and the University of Sydney -- and support ARENA’s goal of improving solar cell efficiency to 30% and cutting utility-scale solar costs to AUD 0.30 per watt by 2030. Ultra low cost solar will be a key to scaling up the production of green hydrogen and decarbonising heavy industry, the agency says.

“Renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy, and it’s getting cheaper. Ultra-low cost solar will be critical to meeting our emissions-reduction targets through the production of low-cost renewable hydrogen, and help Australia export green products and energy to the world,” Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said in a separate announcement.

The funding, which opened to applications in February, was awarded across two streams - cells and modules, and balance of system. Funding has been made available to focus on commercialisation prospects, which will take place after each project’s core reserch and development (R&D) phase, ARENA said.

The projects, for example, include reducing silver consumption of silicon solar cells through a new screen printing metallisation method, improving the efficiency of silicon solar cells through integration of a molecular singlet fission layer, and improving the commercial viabilities of silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell technologies.

(AUD 1 = USD 0.686/EUR 0.647)

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