Shandong Energy Group, a major Chinese state-owned energy conglomerate, showcased its in-house perovskite solar cell technology at a New Energy-themed edition of the "Qilu Manufacturing Salon" event on September 4, including a semi-transparent perovskite photovoltaic glass panel designed as a replacement for a car's panoramic sunroof. According to the company, retrofitting a typical family SUV's sunroof, roughly 1.2 to 1.7 square meters in area, with the perovskite glass could add about 30 kilometers of driving range per day under normal daylight.
Shandong Energy Group's perovskite photovoltaic glass on display at the Qilu Manufacturing Salon event, including a building-integrated (BIPV) demo panel mounted over a brick facade mockup. Image: Shandong Energy Perovskite / Perovskite Optical Chain via WeChat
The company describes the light-absorbing layer at the core of the cell as less than 1 micrometer thick, about 1/100th the diameter of a human hair, which it says allows the material to be manufactured either as a rigid sheet or bent and shaped into curved forms. Beyond automotive glass, Shandong Energy Group says the same technology can be integrated into building glass curtain walls and skylights, turning building facades into power-generating surfaces without compromising natural lighting or appearance.
The perovskite sunroof was presented as an output of Shandong Energy Group's internal "No. 1 Science and Technology Project," which the company says has moved its perovskite R&D team through three successive eight-month development pushes, progressing, in its own framing, from following the field to keeping pace with it and, in some areas, leading it. The showcase is part of a broader build-out of perovskite manufacturing in Shandong province, which is already home to what has been described as the first 100-megawatt-scale perovskite pilot line built north of the Yangtze River, backed by provincial policy support for the sector.
