The UVSiTE project is funded within the 2013 Call for Research Projects of the Fundación Obra Social CajaCanarias.
UVSiTE aims to improve the energy efficiency of silicon-based photovoltaic cells and modules by integrating a new type of down-converter film. This process will allow the capture of high-energy photons, in order to increase quantum efficiency at certain wavelengths.
The objectives of the project are as follows:
- Manufacture a new type of down-converter film for standard silicon photovoltaic cells and modules to increase the efficiency of the device by at least 0.3 percentage points compared to the efficiency obtained without the down-converter film.
- Design the procedure for the photoconverter film to be integrated into the production process of standard photovoltaic cells and modules for silicon technology.
- To ensure that the increased efficiency achieved with the photoconverter foil offsets, in terms of additional revenue from increased electricity production, the additional costs introduced in the manufacturing process.
- To achieve that the film offers a durability of the PV module similar to the standard durability offered in the market (25 years).
Furthermore, the processes will also consider production costs, product durability and waste generation, both during its manufacture and at the end of its useful life, applied to the photovoltaic technology manufacturing sector, its quantification, impact, reduction, recovery and recycling, as well as the field of water and its reuse within the manufacturing process.
The project is led by the University of La Laguna with the collaboration of the Instituto Tecnológico y de Energías Renovables (ITER) and the Fraunhofer Institut für Solare Energiesysteme, will last three years and will end in December 2016.
