UNSW Sydney has begun a five-year, AU$18 million (about US$12.5 million) field-testing program for commercial perovskite and perovskite-silicon tandem solar modules, backed by AU$5.6 million (about US$3.9 million) from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) through its Ultra Low-Cost Solar research and development funding round. Called "Field-testing of commercial perovskite and tandem modules," the project runs until 2031 and is being carried out in partnership with Trina Solar, MicroQuanta, the UK's University of Surrey, and Australia's CSIRO.
Up to 160 modules will be mounted outdoors at UNSW's Water Research Laboratory in Manly Vale, about 28 kilometers north of Sydney's CBD, exposed to conditions that lab testing can't fully replicate, including temperature swings, humidity, UV exposure, rain and salt air. The project, led by Dr. Jessica Yajie Jiang of UNSW's School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, will include both single-junction perovskite modules and several types of tandem architecture, including designs that integrate the perovskite layer directly onto silicon and others that physically stack separate perovskite and silicon devices.
Modules are being supplied confidentially by manufacturers under confidentiality agreements, with results anonymized where needed and underperforming products not identified publicly. The researchers will track each module's output against a key benchmark: once performance drops below 80% of its initial efficiency, a level some modules could reach within just a few months, it will be considered significantly degraded.
Beyond tracking failures, the team plans to reproduce the field stresses indoors under controlled, accelerated conditions and use microscopic and nanoscale analysis to identify the specific degradation mechanisms at play. Findings will be shared back with manufacturers so they can refine materials and processes before submitting improved modules for further testing.
The project aims to provide independent, third-party data on the real-world durability of commercial perovskite and tandem modules, an area where standardized, large-scale field data has been limited compared with the extensive history behind silicon's 25-year performance warranties.
