Australia-made solar testing technology attracts interest of global PV giants

A new Australia-made solar technology that helps PV manufacturers detect faults in solar cells is attracting serious interest from three of the four biggest solar manufacturers in the world, its developers say.

The technology is a contactless way of testing for faults in solar cells and was developed by the “ACDC” research group at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), a recognised global leader in PV technology.

It’s being commercialised by BT Imaging, a company that already has tech deep inside the big global solar cell makers and was spun out by the university in 2007.

A breathless press release from UNSW which says the tech “could soon become the new global standard in solar cell testing”, when announcing a $1.4 million commercialisation deal between the two entities, isn’t entirely hyperbole, says UNSW’s project lead Ziv Hameiri.

“We are already in discussion with three of the four largest companies in the world. They have started testing this capability [and] already evaluated the quality of it,” told Renew Economy.

“It may be a strong statement, but these companies are excited about this technology and the moment that one or two of them adopt that, we assume the rest of the market will follow.”

The problem they are solving is that today’s testing tech is a decade old, yet solar cells have become radically more advanced in that time. 

Current-voltage testers have to physically touch the surface of solar cells, which can damage them, to test for defects and can only be done at the end of the process after metallisation, which is when conductive metal contacts are put onto the cell. 

It means any faults that occur earlier in the process aren’t picked up, and it doesn’t cope well with newer cell components and newer technologies such as tandem solar cells.

The new method is part innovation, part AI, and builds on the photoluminescence tools the Artificial Intelligence, Characterisation, Defects, and Contacts (ACDC) group was testing with perovskite solar cell maker Caelux in 2023.

A camera captures the peaks and intensity of electroluminescence and photoluminescence emitted when cells are ‘excited’ by light.

It can then give readings on voltage, series resistance and efficiency. An algorithm can then map those measurements and classify cells according to quality and also give advice on where each type of defect may have been created and what to do about it. 

And it can be used at all stages of the production process, which means cells can be fixed or dumped before more effort and materials have been put into them.

Electroluminescence testing is already being used by some in the solar industry to ensure modules are not broken during shipping, and after installation.

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