KEY CONTACTS U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory Sandia National Laboratories James E. Rannels, Director Lawrence Kazmerski, Director Chris Cameron, Manager DOE/GO-102000-0976 Office of Solar Energy Technologies National Center for Photovoltaics Photovoltaics Program 1000 Independence Ave., SW 1617 Cole Boulevard P.O. Box 5800 Washington, DC 20585 Golden, CO 80401-3393 Albuquerque, NM 87185-0753 202-586-SUNS (7867) 303-384-6600 505-844-8161 Fax: 202-586-8148 Fax: 303-384-6481 Fax: 505-844-6541 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Richard King, Team Leader Thomas Surek, Technology Manager Useful Web Sites Photovoltaics Program Photovoltaics Program DOE: www.eren.doe.gov/pv 1000 Independence Ave., SW 1617 Cole Boulevard NCPV: www.nrel.gov/ncpv Washington, DC 20585 Golden, CO 80401-3393 Sandia: www.sandia.gov/pv FY 1999 P 202-586-1693 303-384-6471 Fax: 202-586-8148 Fax: 303-384-6481 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] HOTOVOLTAIC E NERGY NT O NOTICE ME F E T N This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. R E A R Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any P G E Y warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, complete- D P U ness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its A N ROGRAM C use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, I I T R process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute E D E M or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency ST A ATES OF thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof. Printed in the United States of America C Produced for the Available electronically at http://www.doe.gov/bridge ONTRACT U.S. Department of Energy Available for a processing fee to U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors, in paper, from: U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, SW Office of Scientific and Technical Information Washington, DC 20585 P.O. Box 62 Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0062 phone: 865-576-8401 S by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, fax: 865-576-5728 UMMARY a DOE national laboratory. email: [email protected] Available for sale to the public, in paper, from: U.S. Department of Commerce DOE/GO-102000-0976 National Technical Information Service 5285 Port Royal Road February 2000 Springfield, VA 22161 phone: 800-553-6847 fax:703-605-6900 Printed with a biodegradable ink on paper containing at email: [email protected] least 50% wastepaper, including 20% postconsumer waste. online ordering: http://www.ntis.gov/ordering.htm INTRODUCTION The goal of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Power Technologies is to create clean, competitive power technologies for the 21st century. In support of this goal, the mission of the DOE National Photovoltaics (PV) Program is to make PV a significant and vital part of the domestic economy in the years ahead, both as an industry and as an energy resource. Photovoltaics technology made major advances toward the promise of competitive electricity this year – with more record efficiencies and a rapidly growing industry. The Program’s successes are described in the publication, Photovoltaic Energy Program Overview, Fiscal Year 1999. The foundation of the Program’s scientific success continues to rest in the partnership between the federal PV Program, universities, and industry. Direct research, as well as management of the bulk of subcontracted research performed by companies and universities in the Program, are provided by the two lead laboratories in the National Center for Photovoltaics (NCPV) – the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). Brookhaven National Laboratory spearheads the efforts in environmental, safety, and health research. The Golden and Albuquerque DOE Field Offices also oversee subcontracted industry and university research. This Contract Summary for fiscal year (FY) 1999 documents some 201 research projects supported by the PV Program, performed by 128 organizations in 33 states, including 66 projects performed by universities and 76 projects performed by our industry partners. Of the total 1999 PV Program budget of $70.56 million, the industry and university research efforts received $42.6 million, or more than 60%. And, of this amount, about 93% was for contractors selected on a competitive basis. Much of the funding was matched by industry cost-sharing. Each individual effort described in this summary represents another step toward improving PV manufacturing, performance, cost, and applications, and another step toward accomplishing the DOE PV Program’s overall mission. Two additional documents were produced during FY 1999 to guide Program’s direction and strategy. The report, U.S. Photovoltaics Industry: PV Technology Roadmap Workshop, sets industry’s ambitious goals for annual installed production capacity and PV system cost through the year 2020. The new National Photovoltaics Program Plan, 2000-2004: Photovoltaics, Energy for the New Millennium, details the R&D plan and accomplishments needed to make the journey charted out in the PV Industry Roadmap. The results presented in this summary show steady progress toward the Program’s technical, performance, and economic milestones. The partnership that the Program has forged among industry, universities, and DOE represents a winning strategy—one that we will continue to rely on to maintain U.S. leadership in PV technology in the years ahead. i Program and Document Organization The DOE National Photovoltaics Program supports efforts to make PV an important part of our economy through three main program elements: Research and Development, Technology Development, and Systems Engineering and Applications. The research activities are carried out in a coordinated manner by researchers from the national laboratories, industry, and universities. Following is a brief description of the three main program elements: • Research and Development activities generate new ideas, test the latest scientific theories, and push the limits of PV efficiencies in laboratory and prototype materials and devices. Other activities define environmental health and safety issues for facilities engaged in manufacturing PV products and for organizations engaged in PV research and development. • Technology Development activities apply laboratory innovations to products to improve PV technology and the manufacturing techniques used to produce PV systems for the market. • Systems Engineering and Applications activities help to improve PV systems and validate the improvements through tests, measurements, and deployment of prototypes. In addition, research on applications helps to validate sales, maintenance, and financing mechanisms worldwide. The overall PV Program is a balanced effort of research, manufacturing development, and market development. All activities within the Program are planned and carried out in close collaboration and partnership with the U.S. PV industry. Critical to the success of this strategy is the PV Program’s push to reduce the cost of electricity generated by photovoltaics. The program is tackling this goal in three primary ways: by making devices more efficient, by making PV systems less expensive, and by validating the technology through measurements, tests, and prototypes. This document is organized into three main sections corresponding to the PV Program elements. The fourth section describes projects aimed at outreach and program planning, analysis, and management. Within each of the main sections, the first level of ordering of the projects is by the subareas listed in the Table of Contents. Individual projects are then ordered alphabetically according to the name of the performing organization. The appendices provide an indexing of the projects by name of the performing organization, state where the work is performed, and PV technology area. The following codes are used for the organization types: CU College, Univ, or Trade School (Non-HBCU) ST Regional State, or Local Gov’t Facility HB Historically Black College or University TA Trade or Professional Organization FF Federally funded (R&D Lab Operated for Profit) US Federal Agency IN Private Industry ZZ Foreign NP Foundation or Lab (Non-Profit) ii Table of Contents Foreword..........................................................................................................................................i Research and Development Fundamental and Exploratory Research .............................................................................1 Measurements and Characterization .................................................................................56 Crystalline Silicon.............................................................................................................64 PV Electronic Materials and Devices................................................................................85 Thin-Film PV Partnership .................................................................................................97 Environmental Health and Safety ...................................................................................150