The United States has urged India to explore manufacturing a cheaper alternative to silicon solar cells, when U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette addressed a virtual press conference at the conclusion of the India energy forum at the IHS CERA Week.
Brouillette said India was "perfectly positioned as a potential manufacturer" of perovskite cells, on which the U.S. was conducting research at its national laboratory in Colorado. He mentioned the high dependence on Chinese technology, saying "We have seen recently with this pandemic, supply chain issues have arisen with countries like China and in certain cases we have become overly dependent upon one country,"
"It is a technology we want to share with India, we think it is better done there than other parts around the world," Brouillette said.
"PSCs offer a much lower production cost compared to silicon solar cells and its efficiency has improved dramatically," said Sandheep Ravishankar, a scientist researching PSCs at the Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany.
"However, PSCs are still not stable enough to be considered as a commercial competitor of silicon," Sandheep said.
