EN 703

Advanced Concepts in Solar

PV Technologies

Prof. C.S. Solanki

Department of Energy Science and Engineering
[email protected]
 Pre-requisite of the course
•EN-640: Solar Photovoltaics: Fundamentals, technologies and
applications
Suggested reading list
• Semiconductor fundamentals
• P-N junction diode
• P-N junction as solar cells
• Solar cell parameters & design of solar cells
• Si wafers and cell fabrication technologies
• Introduction to thin film technologies
• Solar PV system components
•Design of PV systems

05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki 2

 Contents of the advanced PV course
• Basic theme of the course is to expose students with the latest
developments in various solar cell technologies.

• Advanced concepts in solar cells

• High efficiency Si solar cells
• Thin film depositions
Contents
• Advances in thin film solar cells
• III-V multi-junction high solar cells
• Sensitized solar cells
• Organic solar cells

• These topics will be covered as modules, each about 6 to 8

hours of lectures
05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki 3
 References
•1. Silicon solar cells: advanced principles and practice. Sydney, M. Green, Bridge
Printery, 1995.
•2. Third Generation Photovoltaics. Berlin, Germany, M. Green, Springer-Verlag, 2003.
•3. Crystalline silicon solar cells: advanced surface passivation and analysis, Aberle A.
G., Sydney, Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering, UNSW, 1999.
•4. The physics of solar cells, J. Nelson, Imperial college press, 2006.
•5. Thin-film crystalline silicon solar cells: Physics and technology, R. Brendel, Wiley-
VCH, Weinheim, 2003.
•6. Solar cells: Operating principles, technology and system applications, by Martin A.
Green, Prentice-Hall Inc, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA, 1981.
•7. Seminconductors for solar cells, H. J. Moller, Artech House Inc, MA, USA, 1993. Solid
State electronic devices, Ben G. Streetman, , Prentice-Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New delhi
1995.
•8. Clean electricity from photovoltaics, M. D. Archer, R. Hill, Imperial college press, 2001
• 9. Solar Photovoltaics: Fundamentals, Technologies and Applications, C. S. Solanki,
Prentice Hall of India, 2011.

05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki 4

 Motivation for Solar PV
Technologies

05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki 5

 Summary of fossil fuel reserves

Unit Current Current Availability

reserves production ( no. of
rate years)
Oil Billion 1047.7 26 40.2
barrels
Gas Trillion 5501.5 102.2 53.8
scf
Coal Billions 984 4.8 205
tons
 Limitations of Conventional sources

• Available in limited quantity (can not be

renewed)
• Cause damage to environment
• Centralized energy source
• Energy security

• Can not readily provide power where needed (no

direct conversion)
• Limited efficiency due to multi-step conversion

05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Solar Photovoltaic Technologies L1- 7

 Indian Energy Scenario
•Coal: 2002 •Oil: 2002
Proven reserves Current Proven reserves Current
consumption consumption
84396 MT 359.1 MT 700 MT 97.7 MT

•Gas: 2002

Proven reserves Current

consumption
660 BCM 35.04 BCM
 Indian Electricity Scenario
•India’s total installed capacity as of March 2011,

Fuel MW %age
Total Thermal 115649.48 65.34
                                       96,743.38 54.66
       Coal
                                       17,706.35 10.00
       Gas
                                       1,199.75 0.67
       Oil
Hydro (Renewable) 38,106.40 21.53

Nuclear 4,780.00 2.70

RES** (MNRE) 18,454.52 10.42
Total 1,76,990.40 100

•ref: ministry of power, www.powermin.nic.in

 Region Wise distribution

•Total installed power capacity is 173 GW

•Captive power generating capacity is 19 GW
 India’s installed generation capacity

•India’s installed electricity generation capacity as on March 2011.

• India’s installed RES is about 18.5 GW.
India’s Annual Electricity
Generation
 Capacity factor of a Power Plant
Energy generated during a time
period
Capacity factor =
Energy that plant would have
generated if operated with 100%
capacity in same duration

•Sometime, it is also referred as plant Load Factor, ratio of average load

to the rated load of the plant

•Problem: Calculate the capacity factor of Indian Power Plants.

•Average plant capacity factor of the Indian plants is 54%

•Average plant capacity factor of the PV plants is 15-18%
 Renewable Energy Options
• Renewable energy: Clean, Abundant, Sustainable

Disadvantages
• Extensive land use due to less power density of renewable energy
• Fluctuating character of some renewable energies
• Expensive
05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Solar Photovoltaic Technologies
 Path of energy conversion
sun light sun light
sun light

optical concentration wind energy (optical

concentration)
high temperature
thermal energy rotor
solar cell
thermodynamic generator
engine
electricity
electricity
electricity generator
05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Solar Photovoltaic Technologies L1- 15
 Indian PV Scenario

05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Advanced Concepts in Solar PV Technologies 16

 India’s Radiation Map

• Estimate how
much area of
solar PV
modules is
required to fulfill
the electricity
needs of India?

05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki 17

 Electricity Scenario in India- Generation
•Current Generation of Grid Power in India (Total of about 170,000 MW)
Source Percent
Oil, 1,200 MW Hydro, 37,367 MW Small Hydro, 2,939 MW Coal 53.83
Gas 10.14
Gas, 17,456 MW Nuclear, 4,780 MW Oil 0.70
Biomass, 997 MW Hydro 21.71
Nuclear 2.78
Renewables, 18,655 Wind 7.59
MW Bagasse, 1,562 MW
Small Hydro 1.71
Waste to power, 73 MW
Wind, 13,066 MW Biomass 0.58
Solar PV, 18 MW
Bagasse 0.91
Coal, 92,638 MW Waste to power 0.04
Solar PV 0.01

 Current grid connected PV in India is about 18 MWp

 Grid connected figure will change dramatically in the next 1-2 years (plants
under construction via JNNSM & state government policies)

 Off-grid installations are in the range of 120-140 MWp & will continue to
grow at current or slightly higher rates
 Electricity Scenario in India- Consumption

Per capita per year electricity consumption (kWh/capita/year)

• India ~650 , World average is >2000 and developed countries >10000

 About 400 million do not have access to electricity

•About 80,000 villages are not connected with grid

•There is huge gap in energy supply, solar energy can be appropriate

solution

Chetan S Solanki 19
 Key Policies Promoting PV in India
 The National Action Plan on Climate Change (2008)
– “National Solar Mission” is one of eight missions under NAPCC
 Special Incentive Package Scheme (SIPS) (2007)

 Other key policy measures promoting use of renewables /solar energy

– The Electricity Act, 2003
– The National Electricity Policy, 2005
– The National Tariff Policy, 2006
– The National Rural Electrification Policy, 2006

 Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPOs)

 Generation Based Initiatives – applicable to previously approved plant

projects under migration scheme, rooftop installations and in the states

•These policies target for production, generation and consumption of

renewable energy
 SIPS for Promoting PV manufacturing in India

 SIPS is also known as Semiconductor Policy

 20% of the capital subsidy for semiconductor and 25% for

ecosystem technology

 Required minimum threshold investment of USD 220 Million (Rs

1000 crores) for being eligible to avail the incentives
 Ceiling of 10 ecosystem units for incentives under the policy

 Capital subsidy in the form of investment grant and interest subsidy

 Scheme was applicable up to March 2010, may get extended

21
 SIPS for Promoting PV manufacturing in India

 Brought big motivation for setting up PV related manufacturing at all levels

- PolySi, Wafers, Cells, Modules

 Both C-Si as well as thin film technologies are promoted

 26 proposals received envisaging investment of $ 48 billion with – majority of

the proposals received relating to solar PV manufacturing at all levels

 GoI has given in-principle approval to 13 proposals

 6 applicants have reported financial closure for the threshold amount

exceeding USD 220 Million (Rs 1000 crores) - total investment proposed by
these applicants over 10 years exceeds US $ 8.5 billion



22
 JNNSM for Promoting PV Deployment in India

•The objective of JNNSM is to establish India as a global leader in solar energy by

 Installing 20,000MW generation capacity by 2022  driving cost down

and achieving grid parity

 4-5 GW of installed solar manufacturing capacity by 2017

o Promote programmes for off grid applications (1000 MW –

•2017 & 2000 MW – 2022)
•
o Deploy 20 million solar lighting systems for rural areas by 2022

oAchieve 15 million sq. meters – 2017 & 20 million sq. meters by

2022 of solar thermal collector area
Chetan S Solanki 23
 JNNSM for Promoting PV Installations in India

 Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) was launched on

January 11, 2010
 Targets (Including Solar PV and Solar Thermal)

Off-
Grid Connected solar power
Phases grid/Decentralized
including roof top (Cumulative)
Solar (Cumulative)
Phase I (2010-13) 1000 MW 200 MW
Phase II (2013-17) 4000 MW 1000 MW
Phase III (2017-22) 20,000 MW 2000 MW

 State Government policies – led by the State of Gujarat’s Solar Policy

2009 (over 350MW of PV projects ‘selected’) are attracting investment
and much activity in Solar
– Gujarat Solar Policy 2009 target is 500 MW by 2014
 Key states with increased PV activity
•JNNSM plant allocations, so far
• Most plants under JN-NSM so far, located in Rajasthan
•Source: Ernst & Young – Quarterly Report

• Gujarat has selected 350MW of projects under state policy

• Other states with plants activity: Andhra Pradesh, Orissa

• Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab

• Off-grid activity increasing in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,

• Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh

•Off-Grid project allocations under JN-NSM, until Aug 31, 2010
•Based on MNRE data

10268
12000

10000

8000
KWp

6000

2318
4000

1701
1457

1100
2000
675
440

400
320

280
150

121

122
100

105
74

97
40

0
AP

TN
J&K
HP

UP
MP

Non State
Mizoram
Arunachal

Punjab
Manipur
Haryana

Lakshadweep

Uttarakhand
Karnataka
Chattisgarh

Maharashtra

Rajasthan
 JNNSM – Promoting solar energy at all fronts

•Level playing field for all

technologies

•Focus on grid-connected •Extended to 25 years,

as well as off-grid floating tariff to be
applications reviewed annually

•Ensuring power
•20,000 MW in 12 off-take to all
years in a phased developers
manner

•Initiatives for
•Mission
manpower
Steering
development at
Committee
every level

•Source: ISA •Infrastructure,

financing & incentives
 PV Cell and Module production in India
Companies Cell Module
Solar Semiconductor 60 195 •More capacities are being
XL Energy Ltd. 120 192 added
Indosolar Ltd 160 - 
TATA BP Solar 84 125
Moser Baer 90 150
Titan Energy -  100 -Supporting schemes
Photon Energy Systems  - 50
PLG Power 25 50 (SIPS)
WEBEL SL Energy Systems 42 42
Surana Ventures 19 38 - Market opportunities
Premier Solar Systems (P) Ltd.
Reliance Industries Ltd
 -
 -
30
30
(JNNSM)
Waaree Energy  - 30
Ajit Solar  - 20
Access Solar  - 18
Kotak Urja Pvt. Ltd.  - 15
Vikram Solar  - 25
USL Photovoltaics PVT Ltd. 6 10
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) 8 8
KL Solar 7 6
TopSun Energy  - 5
Maharishi Solar Technology 2.5 3
Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Ltd. 2 2
Euro Multivision Ltd. 40  -
UPV Solar - Udhaya Energy Photovoltaics Pvt Ltd 12  -
Total 675 1142

Chetan S Solanki 27
 Growth of PV industry

India Module Manufacturing Capacity

1.2
1.1
GW Capacity 1

0.8

~
0.6 R
AG
• C 75%
0.4

0.2
0.06
0
2005 2010

PV module manufacturing in India is growing significantly

Before the GoI schemes 90% modules were exported, the percentage has
come down to about 65% now
Chetan S Solanki 28
 The Indian Market is attracting new
entrants
•Partial/Indicative list of new entrants in the solar business in India, including international
majors who have established an India solar focus/presence in recent months
Equipment Polysilicon Cells Modules BOS EPC Plant Developers
Centrotherm Lanco Solar Jain Solar Bosch Emerson NW Pwr Aries Waaree Adani
Lanco Solar Chemtrols Solar KACO Bosch GMR
Lanco Solar Siemens Chemtrols Solar Mahindra Solar
Tapan Solar SMA Cirus Solar Punj Lloyd
Steca Bergen Gehrlicher SunEdison
Gestamp Welspun
ICE Solar ZebaSolar
juwi Solar
Pan Exergy
SDEM Tega

Infra Majors w EPC Interest

GMR
GVK
Larsen & Toubro
IVRCL Infra.
Jayaprakash Assoc.

•Key opportunity areas:

• EPC, Plant Maintenance & Operations, Inverters (grid connected and
off-grid), Structures, Off-grid / de-centralized PV systems (water
pumps, rural , electrification, standby)
• LED and efficient lighting (rural and urban applications) •Source: SEMI India
 • A snap shot of the India PV eco-system
Polysilicon Cell Module Inverters EPC Plant Developers
Lanco Solar BEL Access Solar ABB AES AES
BHEL Andromeda Energy APC Aries Waaree Adani
CEL BEL DB Electronics (Emerson) Astonfield Alex Spectrum
Indosolar BHEL Delta Bosch Amrit Animation
Jain Solar Bosch KACO Chemtrols Solar Astonfield
Jupiter Solar Power CEL Numeric Power Systems Cirus Solar Azure Power
Maharishi Solar Chemtrols Solar Optimal Power Synergy Enfinity Bhaskar Green
Moser Baer Emmvee Solar Schneider Electric Eversun Camelot Enterprises
Tata BP Solar Euro Multivision Siemens Gehrlicher CCCL Infrastructure
Udhaya Semiconductor HHV Solar Statcon Gestamp Coastal Projects
Websol Energy Systems Icomm Tele Steca Bergen ICE Solar DDE Renewable
Lanco Solar Jain Solar Sukam juwi Solar Dreisatz
Kotak Urja M+W Zander Electrical Mfg Co
Lanco Solar Moser Baer PV ElectroMech Maritech
Maharishi Solar Pan Exergy Euro Solar
Moser Baer PV Photon Energy Finehope Allied
Nest Energy Refex GMR
PAE Limited SDEM Tega Greentech Power
Photon Energy Systems Solar Semi IOCL
PLG Power Sun Edison JSW Energy
Premier Solar Systems Sun Technics Khaya Solar
PV Power Technologies Tata BP Solar KPTCL
REIL Titan Energy KRIBHCO
Reliance Solar XL Energy Lanco Solar
Solar Semiconductor Louroux
Solkar Solar Maharashtra Seamless
Sun Solar Techno Mahindra Solar
Sun Technics Millenium Synergy
Suntime Energy Moser Baer PV
Sunwatt Energy (India) Newton Solar
Surana Northwest Energy
Tapan Solar Oswal Woolen
Tata BP Solar Precision Technik
Titan Energy Systems Punj Lloyd
UD Energy Systems Rithwik Projects
USL Photovoltaics Saidham Overseas
Vikram Solar Saisudhir Energy
Waaree Energies Sun Edison
Websol Energy Systems Sunkon
XL Telecom & Energy Tatith Energies
Topsun
Torrent Power
Unity Power (Videocon)
•Source: SEMI India Vasavi Solar Power
Viraj Renewables
WBREDA
Zeba Solar
 Indian PV market landscape

•Off-grid (December 2009)

 Domestic market so far mainly for off-grid Product Installed base
applications Solar lanterns 7.67 lakh units
Home lighting 5.1 lakh units
systems
 Only 10 MW of grid-connected Solar PV SPV pumps 7,247 units
capacity as on December 2010
Solar water heating 3.25 mn sq mtr
(collection area)
 About 66% of Solar PV production Solar cookers 6.72 lakh units
(cumulative) exported : SPV Street Lighting 82,384 nos.
-75% of exports to Germany & Spain

•Grid-connected (December 2010)

•10 MW
 Huge opportunities for off-grid PV
• 80,000 villages off-grid

• Upwards of 400 M people without grid access •Pictures courtesy Auroville Renewable Energy
•Auroville, India

•JNNSM Offers
• 30% capital subsidy on standalone systems

• 50% capital subsidy for local/mini grids

• Soft loans at 5% rate of interest

•Top Applications

• Home/school/village lighting & basic electrification

• Water/irrigation pumpsets

• Telecom Towers/base stations

 R&D and HRD Goals

Solicit research in thrust areas including storage systems

Industrial research for increasing efficiency and cost

Basic research in new materials and concepts

Consortium approach for networking

International cooperation in R&D

 100,000 trained manpower at various levels

Chetan S Solanki 33
 National Centre for Photovoltaic Research &
Education (NCPRE)

•www.ncpre.iitb.ac.in

 Set up in October 2010

 5 year funding of $ 10.5 million
 Strong Education + Research thrust
 Highly inter-disciplinary: 50 faculty from 13 Departments
 Review of Solar Cell
Concepts

05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Advanced Concepts in Solar PV Technologies 35

 Structure of materials

•Monocrystalline •Amorphous •Polycrystalline

• Si lattice
•a
• Planes and
direction

•Planes (100) and {100}

•Shifted atom by •Direction [100] and <100>
•Corner atom •Face atom x¼,y¼,z¼
05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Solar Photovoltaic Technologies 36
 Structure of materials and properties
• Electrical properties depends on crystalline order of
material
• Conductivity ()
• Mobility ()
• Carrier lifetime ()
•Diffuse length (Ln)

• Optical properties depends on crystalline order

• Band gap (Eg)
• absorption coefficient ()
• penetration depth / scattering
• reflectivity (R)
• Refractive index (n)
05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Advanced Concepts in Solar PV Technologies 37
 Formation of energy bands
•Electron
•energy

•One atom •Two •Many atoms •(a)

atoms in a crystal
•Energ
•Electron •4N empty y band
Energy states

•2N+2N •∫ •p
• Eg ∫
•filled states •∫ •s
∫ •(b)
•∫∫
•Inter atomic distance
•Si lattice spacing •Isolated
atoms
•(a) energy levels in a system of more than one atom
(b) energy bands in a crystal
05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Solar Photovoltaic Technologies 38
 Energy-momentum diagram
•E
•E

•direct
absorption •E c

•Ec •photon absorption

•photon absorption
•photon
•Ev •Ev absorption
•k
•k

•Direct band gap •Indirect band gap

• Thin solar cells •Thick solar cells

•Example; a-Si, CdTe, GaAs, •Example; Si
CIGS© IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki
05/07/21 Solar Photovoltaic Technologies 39
 P-type semiconductor
•Ec

•Eg
•Ea
•Ev •E
a

•T = 0K •T  300K
• Acceptor energy level is very close (energetically) to valence band edge,
Ex: Ea-Ev = 0.03 to 0.06 eV for Si

•Acceptance of a valence band electrons by an acceptor level and the resulting

creation of holes (partially empty band)
•Conduction of current is possible in a partially empty energy band, but not in
completely filled energy band

40
 N-type semiconductor

•Ec
•Ed •Ed

•Ev

•Eg
•T = 0K •T  300K

• Donor energy level is very close (energetically) to conduction band edge,

Ex: Ec-Ed = 0.03 to 0.06 eV for Si

• An electron at the donor level is excited to the conduction band

• In conduction band there are large number of energy levels are available, electron
can hop from one level to another

41
 Intrinsic Semiconductor (Si)
• Comment: Si is first purified to very high degree, 99.999999999%, before
making devices in it.

•Si
•Intrinsic : when
•e -
no impurities are
• added to the
h+ material

•At the equilibrium

•Recombination rate, ri = gi, Generation rate
•(electron/cm3) n = p (hole / cm3) •n(Si)=1010 EHP/cm3

42
 Distribution of carriers: The Fermi Level
• Fermi-Dirac statistics Defines the distribution of carriers over the available energy
states, follows the Pauli’s Exclusion Principle and other laws
•Distribution of electrons over the range of allowed energy levels at the thermal
equilibrium is:

1
f (E) 
•K –Boltzman’s constant
•1.38x10-23 J/K
( E  E F ) / kT
1 e •8.62x10-5 eV/K

• The function f(E) gives the probability that an available energy state at E
will be occupied by an electron at temperature T.
• Ef is called as Fermi level

43
 Equilibrium carrier concentration,p0 &n0
•n0
•E
•E
c
F
•E
v
•N-type
•N(E •f(E) •Carrier
) Conc.

•Ec
•E
•Ev
F
•p0

•P-type •f(E)
•N(E •Carrier
) Conc.
 Charge carrier distribution
•Assumption: EF is several
•Carrier distribution in available energy kT below the Ec
levels in CB and VB
•Nc, Nv effective density of
states
1
no  N c * f ( Ec)  N c ( Ec  E F ) / kT
1 e
 ( Ec  E F ) / kT
no  N c e po  N v e  ( E F  Ev ) / kT

( E F  Ei ) / kT
no  ni e po  pi e ( Ei  E F ) / kT

2 2
n0 p0  ni  pi
05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Advanced Concepts in Solar PV Technologies 45
 Space charge neutrality & compensation
• Nd > Na

• Some of the hole (=Na) will be

•Ed
•EF compensated by the electron from the
conduction band
•Ei
•Ea

• The net electron concentration will be?

• n0 = Nd - Na
•T  300K

•Due to the doping material will remain electrically neutral

 
n0  N a  p0  N d
46
 Carrier motion under electric field:
Mobility ()
• Mobility is an very important parameter of a material
 depends on material properties, effective mass, mean time of collisions,
impurity contents of the material and temperature

 n p •Electron and hole mobility

for pure materials
•Si •1350 •480
•Ge •3900 •1900

•If electron and hole, both are present in the material, the J is given as

J  q(n n  p p )  
47
 Diffusion of carriers
• Electron flux per unit area per unit time
•n(x)

1l
n ( x )  (n1  n2 )
•l 2t
• where l(bar) mean free path, t(bar) is
•x mean free time
•n2
•n1

dn( x) 1 l * l (n( x)  n( x  x))

n   Dn n ( x ) 
2 t dx
dx 2
l dn( x)
• -ve sign indicate the electron movement 
in the decreasing conc. Dir. 2t dx
05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Solar Photovoltaic Technologies 48
 Drift + Diffusion current
dn( x) dn( x)
n   Dn n   Dn
dx dx
dn dp
•Diffusion current J n (diff )  qDn J p (diff )  qD p
dx dx
• If there is an electric field and concentration gradient exist together, then electron
and hole current will be some of the drift and diffusion current

dn dp
J n  qn n  qDn J p  qp p  qD p
dx dx

J total  J n  J p • Minority carrier current can be significant

due to diffusion
05/07/21 © IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Solar Photovoltaic Technologies •L9-49