Photovoltaics for High Specific Power: Increasing Markets and Decreasing Package Weight

Emerging markets for lightweight, flexible, and portable power, including unmanned aerial vehicles, portable charging, remote-site power generation, vehicle-integrated and building facades, could benefit from photovoltaic technologies with high specific power (W/kg). Thin-film and emerging technologies offer advantages for lightweight, flexible power, including decreased cost and package weight and the opportunity to utilize new materials and lift-off techniques. We have assessed the role of the substrate, packaging, and interconnects to provide a quantitative assessment of designs to maximize specific power. Including all required components and weight limitations associated with safety and reliability, we estimate a lower bound for a durable lightweight module of ~ 300-500 g/m². For a thin film device with 15% efficiency, this would yield up to 500 W/kg and up to 1200 W/kg for a 35% for a high efficiency III-V multijunction device [1].
[1] M. Reese et. al. Nature Energy, in press 2018 (doi: 10.1038/s41560-018-0258-1)