ART-PV India, an IIT Bombay-incubated start-up, has been awarded a $10 million grant by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The funding will enable the company to set up a manufacturing plant for high-efficiency tandem solar cells.
ART-PV has developed a 4T cell with PCE >30% on small area ~1 cm2, which will be transferred to 2T using industry partners supplying semi-processed bottom sub-cells.
First Solar operates a thin-film solar PV plant near Chennai, while Waaree specializes in crystalline silicon-based PV cells. Interestingly, perovskite material can be seamlessly integrated with both thin-film and crystalline PV technologies, making the ART-PV cell versatile in various solar applications.
Currently, ART-PV’s tandem solar cell is at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 or 7, indicating that it is either in the prototype demonstration phase or already being tested in an operational environment.
The company plans to establish a commercial wafer size solution for monolithic 2T tandem solar cells using Silicon and perovskite as top subcell.