Perovskite solar cells are poised to revolutionize solar manufacturing with high efficiency and flexible applications

Three major deals in perovskite solar cells have been made over recent months.

Perovskite solar cells are attracting investment from solar industry giants, driven by their ability to offer high efficiency, low-cost domestic production, and flexible applications that could revolutionize solar manufacturing. Perovskite’s biggest advantage is its theoretical potential to exceed the current efficiency limits of crystalline silicon cells, which are widely deployed and rely on supply chains that are largely sourced from China and Southeast Asia. Three major deals in perovskite solar cells have been made over recent months. First Solar buying Evolar AB, Qcells investing $100 million in tandem perovskite cell and module production, and newcomer CubicPV raising $103 million to build a US wafer plant and perovskite research and development center.

However, there remain considerable challenges to scaling up production to commercial viability, including difficulties in producing uniform, high-performance perovskite material and the inherent fragility and instability of the material when exposed to moisture, oxygen, light, heat, or voltage. Even so, many predict that perovskite technology could dominate the solar industry or achieve a multi-trillion dollar opportunity, with some sure that momentum is growing sufficiently rapidly to deliver commercially viable solutions within the next two or three years. Despite the challenges, advocates of perovskite solar cells assert they offer an opportunity to "democratise energy" by enabling low-capital and low-energy intensity production, which could transform access to energy worldwide.