The Australian National University (ANU) has secured AU$7.1 million (about US$5.1 million) in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) toward a AU$19.2 million (about US$13.8 million) project to develop low-cost, parallel-connected perovskite-silicon tandem solar technology, working alongside partners UNSW, Macquarie University, the University of Queensland, Halocell Energy, Tindo Operations, and Greatcell Solar Materials.
The five-year project, running from August 2026 through August 2031, is funded through ARENA's Ultra Low-Cost Solar PV R&D round, which aims to help drive installed solar costs down to 30 cents per watt by 2030. ANU (as lead organization) and its partners plan to improve perovskite materials, manufacturing processes, and module design, test device reliability, and demonstrate larger-area tandem solar modules built around a parallel-connection architecture, which wires the perovskite and silicon subcells together in parallel rather than the more common series (two-terminal) tandem configuration. The team will also explore a retrofit pathway that would let flexible perovskite modules be added onto existing silicon PV systems already in the field, rather than requiring an entirely new tandem module to be manufactured and installed.
Within the project, Greatcell Solar Materials will collaborate closely with ANU's engineering team - including Klaus Weber and The Duong - to develop, optimize, and evaluate new materials for the perovskite solar cells, contributing technical expertise beyond its role as a materials supplier.
If the R&D phase succeeds, the project is intended to progress to pilot-scale manufacturing, certification, field testing, and commercial validation. ARENA and ANU frame the work as part of a broader push to strengthen Australian solar research and manufacturing capability, bringing together university and industry partners to advance tandem solar photovoltaics and share knowledge gained from testing, scale-up, and field validation.
The grant is one of 20 projects funded under ARENA's Ultra Low-Cost Solar PV R&D round, which grew from an initial AU$60 million (about US$43.2 million) allocation to a total of AU$105.6 million (about US$76 million) due to the quality of applications received, and separately includes AU$7.25 million (about US$5.2 million) awarded to the University of Sydney and Unison Solar Energy for perovskite-silicon tandem commercialization work.
