EUR 30504 EN This publication is a Technical report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process. The scientific output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use that might be made of this publication. For information on the methodology and quality underlying the data used in this publication for which the source is neither Eurostat nor other Commission services, users should contact the referenced source. The designations employed and the presentation of material on the maps do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the European Union concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Contact information Name: Nigel TAYLOR Address: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy Email: [email protected] Name: Maria GETSIOU Address: European Commission DG Research and Innovation, Brussels, Belgium Email: [email protected] EU Science Hub https://ec.europa.eu/jrc JRC123157 EUR 30504 EN ISSN 2600-0466 PDF ISBN 978-92-76-27274-8 doi:10.2760/827685 ISSN 1831-9424 (online collection) ISSN 2600-0458 Print ISBN 978-92-76-27275-5 doi:10.2760/215293 ISSN 1018-5593 (print collection) Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020 © European Union, 2020 The reuse policy of the European Commission is implemented by the Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39). Except otherwise noted, the reuse of this document is authorised under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This means that reuse is allowed provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated. For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not owned by the EU, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holders. All content © European Union, 2020, except: cover page, © Fotolia 82963207, and where indicated otherwise How to cite this report: Taylor, N., Jäger-Waldau, A., Photovoltaics Technology Development Report 2020, EUR 30504 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg 2020, ISBN 978-92-76-27274-8, doi:10.2760/827685, JRC123157. Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3 1.1 Main Characteristics of the Technology ........................................................................................................................................ 3 1.2 Current Market Status .............................................................................................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Methodology and data sources .......................................................................................................................................................... 5 2 State of the art ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 7 2.1 PV Technologies ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 2.1.1 Wafer-based crystalline silicon .................................................................................................................................................. 7 2.1.2 Thin-film Photovoltaics ................................................................................................................................................................ 11 2.1.1 Tandem PV ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 2.1.2 Concentrating Photovoltaics (CPV) ........................................................................................................................................ 14 2.2 Power conversion equipment ............................................................................................................................................................ 14 2.3 Cross-Cutting Aspects ........................................................................................................................................................................... 15 2.3.1 Standards .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 15 2.3.2 Building and Other Integrated Applications..................................................................................................................... 16 2.3.3 Sustainability and the Circular Economy .......................................................................................................................... 17 2.3.4 Performance, operation, reliability and lifetime ........................................................................................................... 18 3 R&D Overview ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 20 3.1 Global and European Research and Innovation Landscape ........................................................................................... 20 3.1.1 Scientific Publications ................................................................................................................................................................... 20 3.1.2 Patents .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 3.2 EU Programmes......................................................................................................................................................................................... 27 3.2.1 Energy Union and the SET plan ............................................................................................................................................... 27 3.2.2 PV in Horizon 2020 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 27 3.2.3 SOLAR- ERA.NET................................................................................................................................................................................ 29 3.2.4 European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) ....................................................... 29 3.2.5 European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) .................................................................................... 30 3.2.6 EIT Innoenergy ................................................................................................................................................................................... 30 3.2.7 EIB InnovFin ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 30 3.2.8 NER-300 ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 30 3.3 Other R&D Programmes ...................................................................................................................................................................... 30 3.3.1 IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme ................................................................................................................ 30 3.3.2 USA ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 31 3.3.3 China ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 32 3.3.4 Japan ......................................................................................................................................................................................................