Perovskite was an IEEE Spectrum Top Tech 2019 so it is taking a while.
Using some of that history, when First Solar bought a German perovskite specialist in May 2023 we thought:
....Now perovskite is going to be a big deal, but it's not yet. And the idea of somehow combining FSLR's current low-cost, low-efficiency cadmium telluride approach with the ultra-high efficiencies that are already being achieved with perovskite in the lab are potentially very profitable but... methinks today's stock action looks more like some shorts covering in fear of the unknown rather than new-position buyers sitting down and doing a discounted cash analysis that results in a "By George, this company is worth 25.49% more than it was yesterday. ($229.88 up $46.69)
Here's the latest from MIT's Technology Review, January 15:
Companies say perovskite tandem solar cells are only a few years from bringing record efficiencies to a solar project near you.
In Swift Solar’s lab, more than a dozen pairs of elbow-length rubber gloves hover horizontally in midair, inflated like arms. The gloves are animated by gaseous nitrogen and jut out of waist-high, glass-walled enclosures, designed to keep the workspaces dry and airtight to protect the delicate solar materials inside.
In a corner, technician Roger Thompson slides his hands into a pair and begins slotting small glass slides into a metal plate. Soon, a conveyor belt will carry the plate behind a metal door, where “black box magic,” as Swift CEO Joel Jean calls it, will add a chemical coating designed to conduct electrical current.
Swift, which operates this facility in a quiet industrial neighborhood in Silicon Valley, is one of a growing group of companies experimenting with next-generation solar technology. The startup is racing to produce commercially viable solar cells that layer the traditional silicon with materials called perovskites.
Stacking these two materials, which absorb different wavelengths of sunlight, allows solar panels to reach higher efficiencies and produce more electricity per panel. That means perovskite tandem solar cells could reduce costs and boost the amount of renewable electricity on the grid.
The promise is significant. But companies and scientists have been tinkering with the technology for over a decade without any commercial deployment. As a solar material, perovskites are fickle—they’re sensitive to water, heat, and light. And some researchers warn time may be running out.
“I have a feeling that if in the next two to three years there’s no perovskite products, the market may decrease its confidence in this technology,” says Bin Chen, a research assistant professor who focuses on perovskite technology at Northwestern University.
Researchers and startups including Swift are working feverishly to develop those products, emboldened by recent progress on making perovskites more durable. In recent months, some of the world’s largest solar companies have also given the technology votes of confidence, by investing in pilot manufacturing lines or purchasing perovskite startups.
Now these companies must prove they can overcome the struggles that have bedeviled perovskites for years, while producing millions of panels that perform with record-breaking efficiency.
‘On the back’ of silicon
The key to success for perovskites, many of these companies believe, will be integrating them with proven solar technologies, which could lend perovskites some of their stability and their hard-earned market confidence....
