The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will be providing about $650,000 to CSIRO for the development of guidelines for assessing the performance of the perovskite solar cells. This project will be carried out as part of an attempt to reduce the cost of renewable energy in the country by providing a funding boost to an innovative solar cell technology.
CSIRO is planning to establish new methods and guidelines applicable to perovskite solar cells, as international standards to measure solar PV cell performance are only applicable for silicon wafer cells. The new guidelines would be applied at the ARENA-supported PV Performance Laboratory in Newcastle, and the lab would help Australian researchers test perovskite samples in the country instead of conducting tests overseas, which will boost research and reduce the costs of the project.
The project for perovskite solar cells is expected for completion in November 2018. The test results will be validated by internationally accredited laboratories, and CSIRO will work with overseas counterparts for the development of best practice methods suitable for different research laboratory environments.