Application areas of photovoltaic panels, and brief introduction of third-generation photovoltaic cells

Ⅰ Application areas

1. User solar power supply:

(1) Small power supply ranging from 10-100W. Used in remote areas without electricity such as plateaus, islands, pastoral areas, border guard posts, and other military and civilian life electricity. Such as lighting, television, recorders, etc.
(2) 3-5KW home rooftop grid-connected power generation system.
(3) Photovoltaic water pump: to solve the deep water well drinking and irrigation in areas without electricity.

2. Traffic field:

Such as beacon lights, traffic/railway signal lights, traffic warning/sign lights, Yuxiang street lights, high altitude obstacle lights, highway/railway wireless phone booths, unattended road shift power supply, etc.

3. Communication/Communication field:

Solar-powered unattended microwave relay station, fiber optic cable maintenance station, broadcast/communication/paging power system. Rural carrier phone photovoltaic system, small communication machine, GPS power supply for soldiers, etc.

4. Oil, marine, and meteorological field:

Oil pipeline and reservoir gate cathodic protection solar power system, oil rig life and emergency power, marine detection equipment, meteorological/hydrological observation equipment, etc.

5. Home lighting power supply:

Such as garden lights, street lights, portable lights, camping lights, hiking lights, fishing lights, black lights, rubber cutting lights, energy-saving lights, etc.

6. Photovoltaic power station:

10KW-50MW independent photovoltaic power station, scenery (diesel) complementary power station, various large parking plant charging stations, etc.

7. Solar Buildings:

Combining solar power generation with building materials to make large buildings of the future self-sufficient in electricity is a major development direction for the future.

8. Other fields include:

(1)Supporting automobiles: solar cars/electric vehicles, battery charging equipment, automobile air conditioners, ventilating fans, cold drink boxes, etc.
(2) Solar hydrogen plus fuel cell regenerative power generation system.
(3) Seawater desalination equipment power supply.
(4) Satellites, spacecraft, space solar power stations, etc.

Ⅱ Third-generation photovoltaic cells

After several years of research and development, the third generation of photovoltaic cells (including a variety of materials with semi-conducting properties at the molecular level) has begun to emerge. Its advantages are threefold.

The first is that third-generation PV cells maybe twice or even three times more efficient than first-generation (crystalline silicon) and second-generation (thin-film PV) cells. That is, the previously mentioned 10 square miles of solar power plant will be able to provide sufficient power for 600,000 homes in a few years, instead of 200,000 (i.e., 1/3 of the size of the power supply).

Second, third-generation PV cells use less expensive, high-throughput printing and coating technology. This technology consumes less energy during manufacturing and has a lower investment in equipment, so it will cost significantly less than previous generations. For example, a clean indoor environment is required to manufacture the first and second-generation cells. This is not required for the third generation.

Third, third-generation photovoltaic cells are flexible. Specifically, their higher light absorption can make them only a few microns thick. And it has high transparency. Therefore, they can be printed on Windows by screen printing. In this way, we can install the cells directly inside the building. In the future, everything from buildings to bridges and beyond could be a large power plant, effortlessly capturing solar energy to meet our growing needs.