Perovskite Solar Modules for the Residential Sector

Perovskite solar cells have received tremendous attention within the solar research field in the past decade, due to their outstanding optoelectronic qualities (1,2) as well as the exciting prospect of low-cost processing, for instance, with roll-to-roll manufacturing. (3) After an astonishing first decade of development within the laboratory environment (from technology readiness level 1 to 4), now comes the time for the possible second phase of perovskite photovoltaics (PV), which will ultimately determine whether these model material candidates make their full transformation toward commercial modules. As the interest in perovskite PV expands toward new actors such as industrial companies, (4−6) policy-makers, (7,8) and news outlets, (9,10) the question still remains where exactly these new modules could benefit the solar industry most. With crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV already present on a very large scale at the utility level, we and others have shown that perovskite modules currently offer a relatively small window of opportunity for competition against this incumbent technology, (11,12) at least within the utility application scale and at the time of this writing. The picture is different when it comes to rapidly growing applications such as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) (13) and for market segments where silicon PV remains more expensive, such as rooftop silicon PV for the commercial and industrial scales. (14) However, the following questions remain: When considering the residential PV sector, what are the specific technology requirements for perovskite modules to be cost-competitive with c-Si modules, and are these specifications indeed less stringent than those considered for utility scale PV? How do perovskite–silicon (per-Si) tandem modules compare in this regard? Finally, which cost reductions can we take into consideration for the development of these new technologies into the future, for both perovskite single-junction (SJ) modules and per-Si tandem modules?