UNSW Sydney projects have been awarded a glut of funding by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to support research and development that will significantly reduce the cost of solar.
As reported this week, the funding is part of ARENA’s ‘Solar 30 30 30’ target, aimed at achieving 30% module efficiency and 30 cents-per-installed-watt at utility scale by 2030.
The researchers, from the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE), will receive more than $29 million across nine projects.
The winning projects include research into hybrid solar cells headed up by PV legend Scientia Professor Martin Green, a powerhouse in the Solar space who co-invented the PERC solar cell, found in roughly 75% of all solar panels operating today.
Let’s take a look at some of these projects in more detail.