The Next-Generation Solar Cell Developed by Showa Shell Sekiyu

摘要

As borders among various kind of energies have been disappearing, wide range of selection in various forms is highly expected, such as fossil fuels, electricity, warm water and steam, and the effective way of selection should be based on the viewpoints of product cost, energy efficiency and ease of home application. The power supply side, too, is required to incorporate more flexibility in the selection of the type of generated power source distribution in accordance with the anticipated demand. Expansion of the PV market size as a new energy source that contributes to reduce the environmental load, depends on whether or not it can be accepted to the public as an economical, reliable, and environmentally friendly energy source. With regard to the crystalline Si solar cells, this argument is greatly dependent on the material issue, which is how to save the expensive solar-grade Si materials because the slicing loss is inevitable in the process of making a wafer. On the contrary, as thin film technologies are free from such a loss problem, it might be true that CIS-based thin-film modules may be able to replace the crystalline Si solar cells in the future.