Photovoltaic paint and printed film, solar windows and more efficient tandem cells will drive greener energy production in next quarter of a century says a UNSW expert.
“The last 20 years in solar have been really exciting, and I think the next 20 years are going to surprise everybody.”
That’s the view of UNSW Professor Renate Egan, Executive Director at the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, with regards to developments in the world of solar power.
Prof. Egan is confident that by 2050 electricity generation in Australia will be 100 per cent supplied via renewables, and that half of that will be thanks to photovoltaics.
And she says, while the solar technology of today works and should be deployed as fast as we can, there is more work to be done to get us to 100 per cent renewables.
She is predicting that with time, energy won’t just come from traditional solar panels and batteries, but also from exciting new photovoltaic technologies that take the form of thin flexible films and windows that serve a purpose as well as providing power.
Or, to put it another way, “when people talk about solar paint – they are describing solar as a technology that will be everywhere.”
UNSW/Richard Freeman
