A collaborative project by leading Helmholtz Centers for photovoltaic research aims to accelerate the deployment of multi-benefit photovoltaics based on emerging printed PV-Technologies like organic photovoltaics and perovskites.
Core Lab Perovskite PV at KIT. Image from Solar TAP website
The Solar Technology Acceleration Platform (Solar TAP) for emerging Photovoltaics brings together 3 Helmholtz Centers, 9 major research infrastructures, and more than 25 scientists. The three Helmholtz centers are: Forschungszentrum Jülich, Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. They are aligning their world-class infrastructures in order to create the joint Technology Acceleration Platform and providing fast and simple access to laboratories, equipment and scientists through collaborative pre-financed projects.
Solar TAP targets existing surface areas in agriculture, construction and transportation - aiming to make them usable for the expansion of solar energy through the use of printed solar cells. In this way, not only green energy is generated, but in certain applications additional benefits are created resulting in a "multi-benefit“ for the respective application.
Together with a network of industrial partners, Solar TAP is further developing the necessary technologies and transferring the results along the entire value chain "lab-to-fab“ in order to quickly make these new PV solutions market-ready and accelerate the commercial use of the technologies.
Solar TAP sets out to accelerate the transfer of technologies from „Lab-to-Fab“ through close cooperation with industry. Within Solar TAP, an active industry network is developed to foster the exchange between R&D and commercialization efforts. Solar TAP will create an environment to provide fast and proven solutions to industry by:
- transforming innovations from low to high TRL levels.
- reducing risks for industry by incorporating market needs into development.
- creating a technology roadmap for printed and multi-benefit PV.
- aligning nine world-class research infrastructures for targeted open innovation.
Solar TAP is a three-year initiative with €15.1 million ($16.6 million) funding from the Helmholtz Association. It was launched in 2023. The group has organized three one-day events since launching, that feature presentations by members of the Solar TAP community from industry and academia. At a gathering in April, the focus was agrivoltaics - where experts presented the latest developments in printed solar module processes, organic PV (OPV) trends by the team that achieved the certified record OPV efficiency of 14.46 percent last year, and news about technology transfer of inkjet printing to make optical filters.
