At Intersolar North America 2010 last week, Dr. Thomas Surek of Surek PV Consulting presented "The Race to Grid Parity: Crystalline Silicon vs. Thin Films” in the Market & Technology Outlook program. I found his independent views on the PV Market and research directions a breath of fresh air after four conference days.
Lured by the NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) Best Research-Cell Efficiencies eye chart and silicon shortages of "PV yesterday”, Dr. Surek observed many huge venture capital "investments in thin films, concentrator PV, and next- generation technologies (anything "nano”)” were driven with "unreasonably short R&D-to- product cycles projected”. Typical commercial modules only achieve 50-70% of champion cell efficiencies with a practical limit of ~80%.
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