Title | Cast-Mono Silicon Wafers for a Sustainable PV Market Growth |
Author(s) | Stephan Riepe, Sebastian Nold, Peter Brailovsky, Patricia Krenckel, Lorenz Friedrich, Stefan Janz, Ralf Preu |
Keywords | Sustainability, Photovoltaic (PV), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Crystallization, Cast Mono |
Topic | Silicon Materials and Cells |
Subtopic | Feedstock, Crystallisation, Wafering, Defect Engineering |
Event | EU PVSEC 2020 |
Session | 2AO.4.3 |
Pages manuscript | 121 - 125 |
ISBN | 3-936338-73-6 |
DOI | 10.4229/EUPVSEC20202020-2AO.4.3 |
The economic and ecologic sustainability of using cast-mono silicon wafers in comparison to Czochralski silicon wafers for the production of PERC solar cells and their subsequent application in a photovoltaic system has been studied within a cost and carbon footprint analysis for the whole value chain. The cast-mono growth technology has been modelled based on a G8 industrial furnace system compared to a Cz-growth systems with 36” crucible size and recharging process. The carbon footprint and cost per wafer were evaluated for M6 and M12 wafer sizes. A PV system with cast-mono wafers shows a 9 % reduced carbon footprint for a use phase of 25 years with the assumed properties. On wafer level the cost profiles for both technologies show a cross over point at around 5-7 $ct per kilowatt hour of electricity with lower cost of cast-mono wafers in case of higher electricity prices. An increase of brick yield from actual approx. 53 % to over 60 % would result in a wafer cost decrease of up to 0,4 $ct per Watt peak thus enabling a competitiveness for the future wafer market.