7/30/2019 06135957
1/2
ECONOMICAL ASSESSMENT OF SOLAR ELECTRICITY
FROM ORGANIC PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS
C. Emmott1, B. Azzopardi2, N. Espinosa3, R. Garcia-Valverde4, A.
Urbina1,2, J. Mutale2, F.C. Krebs5
and J. Nelson1
1 Department of Physics and Grantham Institute for Climate
Change, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United
Kingdom,2 Electrical Energy and Power Systems Group, School of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of
Manchester,
Ferranti Building, Sackville Street, Manchester, M60 1QD, United
Kingdom,3
Department of Electronics, Technical University of Cartagena,
Pza. Hospital 1, 30202 Cartagena, Spain,4 Department of Physics,
University of Murcia, Campus Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain,
5Ris National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Technical
University of Denmark, Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000,Denmark
Keywords: Renewable energy, Photovoltaic technology,organic
solar cells, life cycle analysis, cost analysis.
Abstract
Small size polymeric solar cells at laboratory scale
haverecently reached efficiencies up to 8.3% [1]. The rapid
progress in manufacturing methods which allow a
continuousroll-to-roll production indicate that this high
efficiency couldbe within reach for larger modules [2]. Life cycle
analysis has
evaluated the environmental impact of this emergingtechnology
and allows us to compare the carbon emissionsmitigation potential
of the polymeric solar technology withother photovoltaic
technologies, other renewable energysources, or fossil fuels [3].
In this work, a detailed economiccalculation on the cost of
electricity production by a 1kWpgrid-connected organic photovoltaic
system has beenperformed.
Building on the detailed material inventory and the
modulemanufacturing process for the production of organic
photovoltaic modules [2], the economical cost of a 1kWporganic
photovoltaic system has been calculated taking intoaccount the
materials, direct process, labour, balance of
system components, design and maintenance costs and usinga well
established methodology for the economical analysis[4,5]. Assuming
values for the performance ratio of the PVsystem, insolation level,
inflation and interest rates, thelevelised cost of electricity
(LCOE) from an organicphotovoltaic system is calculated.
The interest of organic photovoltaic technologies is mainlythe
promise of very low-cost for module components andtherefore cheap
solar electricity. Our calculation demonstratesthat this statement
is within reach for an already testedmanufacturing process which
allows the fabrication oforganic photovoltaic modules.
The cost of solar electricity is calculated to be 0.26
euro/kWhfor 3% efficiency modules of 5 years lifetime, assuming
aperformance ratio of 0.85 and an insolation of 1700kWh/m2per year.
This reduces to 0.11 euro/kWh if cells with themodule reach the
current record efficiency of 8.3% and themodule lifetime is
extended to 10 years. A sensitivity analysishas been performed and
it shows the importance of improvingthe lifetime of the organic PV
modules to around 10 years.The cost of electricity from an organic
photovoltaic systemcould be more favourable than that obtained for
an equivalentinorganic (silicon-based) system and could attain grid
parity
in the coming years.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the support of the UK EPSRC
(Pathways to Impact Grant EP/I50105), the Royal Society,the
Danish Strategic Research Council (2104-07-0022),
EUDP (j. nr. 64009-0050), MICINN-Spain (HOPECSD2007-00007;
MAT2010-21267-C02) and CARM-Murcia(D429-2008). Partial financial
support was also received fromthe European Commission through the
HIFLEX project(FP7/2009, Grant No. 248678), from the
EU-Indianframework of the "Largecells" project (FP7/2007-2013,
Grant
No. 261936) and from PV-ERA-NET (POLYSTAR).
References
[1] Konarka Tecnologies Inc., NREL certified, press release
29th November 2010.[2] F.C. Krebs, S.Georgyan, J. Alstrup,
Journal of MaterialsChemistry 19, 54425451 (2009).
[3] N. Espinosa, R. Garca-Valverde, A.Urbina, F. C. Krebs,Solar
Energy Materials and Solar Cells
(2010),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2010.08.020
[4] B. Azzopardi, J. Mutale, Renewable and SustainableEnergy
Reviews 14, 11301134 (2010).
