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Barnes, Teresa M.

Publications and source records attributed to Barnes, Teresa M..

12 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Sustainability pathways for perovskite photovoltaics

Solar energy is the fastest-growing source of electricity generation globally. As deployment increases, photovoltaic (PV) panels need to be produced sustainably. Therefore, the resource utilization rate and the rate at which those resources become available in the environment must be in equilibrium while maintaining the well-being of people and nature. Metal halide perovskite (MHP) semiconductors could revolutionize PV technology due to high efficiency, readily available/accessible materials and low-cost production. Here we outline how MHP-PV panels could scale a sustainable supply chain while appreciably contributing to a global renewable energy transition. Further, we evaluate the critical material concerns, embodied energy, carbon impacts and circular supply chain processes of MHP-PVs. The research community is in an influential position to prioritize research efforts in reliability, recycling and remanufacturing to make MHP-PVs one of the most sustainable energy sources on the market.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Prioritizing circular economy strategies for sustainable PV deployment at the TW scale

Global decarbonization requires an unprecedented scale-up of photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing and deployment. The material demand and eventual end of life management associated with multi-TW scale deployment poses many challenges. Circular Economy (CE) and it's associated R-Actions (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) have been proposed to mitigate end of life management and material sourcing concerns. However, CE metrics typically focus on a single product and only consider mass, excluding energy flows. This work leverages the PV in Circular Economy (PV ICE) tool to quantify the deployment, mass, and energy impacts of R-Actions and proposed sustainable PV designs in the context of achieving energy transition deployment goals (75 TW in 2050). 13 module scenarios are established and evaluated across 6 capacity, mass and energy metrics to identify tradeoffs and priorities. We find that increasing module efficiency can reduce near-term material demands up to 30% and improve energy metrics by up to 9%. Material circularity (recycling) can minimize lifecycle wastes and reduce material demands at the cost of higher energy demands. Increasing module lifetime, including reliability improvements and reuse strategies, is effective at reducing both material (>10%) and energy demands (24%). Uniquely, lifetime improvements maximize benefits and minimize the harms across all six metrics while achieving multi-TW scale deployment.

Photovoltaics↗
DOE OSTI2023

Setting Priorities for Photovoltaic Reliability Research Using Criticality Analysis

A forward-looking research opportunity number (RON) is defined for photovoltaic reliability researchers. The RON enables researchers to prioritize their efforts toward the highest impact. For a given degradation mode, the RON is based on three factors: the effect on levelized cost of electricity, the susceptibility of future module products, and the maturity of accelerated tests that can detect and quantify the mode. Reporting bias is avoided because the RON does not rely on polls. The RON is derived for three example cases: light and elevated temperature degradation, backsheet cracking, and antireflective coating abrasion. Finally, these examples demonstrate that targeted research has reduced the risk for these modes over the last several years.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Unfounded concerns about photovoltaic module toxicity and waste are slowing decarbonization

Unsubstantiated claims that fuel growing public concern over the toxicity of photovoltaic modules and their waste are slowing their deployment. Clarifying these issues will help to facilitate the decarbonization that our world depends on. Harnessing the potential of photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation is a key part of the transition to less carbon-intensive energy sources. The most recent energy production forecasts call for a massive 75 TW of global PV capacity by 2050 to have a chance of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 °C and minimizing the impacts of climate change. This is more than a tenfold increase in the current manufacturing and deployment rate in less than 15 years. PV modules are new to many people, so increasing PV deployment has led to growing concerns about the quantity of waste that may arise from decommissioning them (if they are not recycled), and their potential to leach toxic metals. In conclusion, debunking misinformation about PV modules and PV module waste is the first step in addressing these concerns that are unnecessarily slowing PV deployment.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Degradation Science from Nanometers to Kilometers: A Pathway to Rapid Detection for Reliable Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics reliability for terrestrial applications has more than four decades of history and experience. International standards development has prevented many early life failures and must be continued in the future. Yet, as the module product development cycle is measured in mere months, additional investment in the fundamental degradation science and rapid detection should be developed. In this article, a brief strategy is provided addressing indoor accelerated, outdoor testing, and modeling efforts required to retain high reliability in the following decade.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Future-proofing photovoltaics module reliability through a unifying predictive modeling framework

Solar energy, especially photovoltaics (PV), plays a significant role in the global energy transition required for decarbonization. Technological advancements in increasing efficiencies coupled with cost reductions through economies of scale made PV a cost-competitive energy source set to exceed the milestone of 1 TW globally deployed capacity in 2022. However, ongoing downward price pressure coupled with increasing service life expectations creates tremendous challenges for reliability engineers in ensuring the safe and reliable operation of PV modules and systems over the anticipated service life. Today's reliability research efforts aim for module lifetimes of up to 50 years. Still, our current tools fall short in accurately assessing degradation mechanisms and failure modes over such extended periods. We argue that the well-established PV reliability learning cycle needs to be accelerated to keep up with the rapid technological advancements and high expectations that are put on PV and its role in the global energy transition. In this article, we explore the evolution of the PV reliability learning cycle and highlight the significance that predictive modeling capabilities will have on future PV module reliability. We propose creating a unifying modeling framework - which once established will enable the holistic assessment of PV module reliability, accelerate the PV reliability learning cycle, and bring us closer to quantitative service life predictions of PV modules.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Circular economy priorities for photovoltaics in the energy transition

Among the many ambitious decarbonization goals globally, the US intends grid decarbonization by 2035, requiring 1 TW of installed photovoltaics (PV), up from ~110 GW in 2021. This unprecedented global scale-up will stress existing PV supply chains with increased material and energy demands. By 2050, 1.75 TW of PV in the US cumulatively demands 97 million metric tonnes of virgin material and creates 8 million metric tonnes of life cycle waste. This analysis leverages the PV in Circular Economy tool (PV ICE) to evaluate two circular economy approaches, lifetime extension and closed-loop recycling, on their ability to reduce virgin material demands and life cycle wastes while meeting capacity goals. Modules with 50-year lifetimes can reduce virgin material demand by 3% through reduced deployment. Modules with 15-year lifetimes require an additional 1.2 TW of replacement modules to maintain capacity, increasing virgin material demand and waste unless >90% of module mass is closed-loop recycled. Currently, no PV technology is more than 90% closed-loop recycled. Glass, the majority of mass in all PV technologies and an energy intensive component with a problematic supply chain, should be targeted for a circular redesign. Our work contributes data-backed insights prioritizing circular PV strategies for a sustainable energy transition.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Photovoltaics module reliability for the terawatt age

Photovoltaics (PV), or solar electricity generation, has become the cheapest form of energy in many locations worldwide and, combined with energy storage, has the potential to satisfy most of our electricity needs. PV has grown at an annual compounded growth rate of approximately 30% in the last three decades. Solar energy systems will continue their impressive growth in distributed energy, microgrids, and utility scale, as efforts are made for dependable electricity in an age with increasing extreme weather. However, within this remarkable success lies a new challenge. The growth curve, combined with rapid product innovation and scale up, means that the majority of PV systems are new, without the three years of performance data that have been required in the past to estimate product lifetime. PV reliability has to address this challenge. In this review we present a brief summary of PV reliability starting with brief historical synopsis, detailing some of the technological challenges and present a framework required for long lifetime.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Circularity Assessment for Silicon Solar Panels Based on Dynamic Material Flow Analysis: Preprint

Solar photovoltaics (PV) are the fastest growing renewable energy technology for clean, inexpensive, and sustainable electricity generation. Along with numerous technical roadmaps to improve system cost, performance and reliability, the PV industry should also plan to handle large volumes of silicon panel waste, which is initially estimated to be ~13 million metric tons (MT) by 2050 in the U.S. alone. Understanding the magnitude of material needs and how material flows throughout the PV panel life cycle could respond to design, operational and different end-of-life (EOL) circular pathways will help transition into a circular, resource-conserving economy. Herein, we introduce a dynamic material flow analysis (DMFA) framework based on electricity generation to quantify time-series stocks and flows of bulk PV materials (e.g., solar glass and aluminum frames) throughout the life cycles of utility-scale silicon PV systems in the U.S. in the period 2000-2100. We apply the model to a range of scenarios to understand how material demands depend on selected PV-related parameters, different material circularity strategies, and recent module design trends (e.g., bifacial, frameless). We found that float glass and aluminum in PV installations would likely reach 100 million MT and 12 million MT by 2100, respectively, in the baseline scenario. The most influential parameters for PV installation and subsequent waste reduction are found to be module lifetime, module efficiency, annual degradation, and material reduction. Module recycling and component remanufacturing were found to be the most effective material circularity strategies for waste minimization. Panel reuse has negligible savings on waste under current module efficiencies compared to replacements with newer generations with higher efficiency. Ongoing trends to produce larger power frameless modules could save 10 million MT of glass and ~9 million MT of aluminum. Our results enable advanced planning for future materials needs and provide insight into potential opportunities to minimize waste.

circular economy↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Circularity Assessment for Silicon Solar Panels Based on Dynamic Material Flow Analysis

This paper examines the impacts of design, operational, and end-of-life (EOL) waste pathways’ parameters on material circularity in silicon solar photovoltaic (PV) modules. Dynamic material flow analysis (DMFA) quantifies time-series material flows through systems’ life cycle stages to identify hotspots of waste generation, estimate resource needs in the future, and guide sustainable material management. We introduce a DMFA framework based on U.S. electricity demand for the period 2000-2100 to assess stocks and flows of bulk PV materials (i.e., solar glass and aluminum frames). We apply the model to a range of scenarios to understand how material demands depend on selected PV-related parameters, different material circularity strategies, and recent module design trends (e.g., bifacials, large-format-high power modules). Our results enable advanced planning for future materials needs and provide insight into potential opportunities to minimize material waste.

circular economy↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Circularity Assessment for Silicon Solar Panels Based on Dynamic Material Flow Analysis

Solar photovoltaics (PV) are the fastest growing renewable energy technology for clean, inexpensive, and sustainable electricity generation. Along with numerous technical roadmaps to improve system cost, performance and reliability, the PV industry should also plan to handle large volumes of silicon panel waste, which is initially estimated to be ~13 million metric tons (MT) by 2050 in the U.S. alone. Understanding the magnitude of material needs and how material flows throughout the PV panel life cycle could respond to design, operational and different end-of-life (EOL) circular pathways will help transition into a circular, resource-conserving economy. Herein, we introduce a dynamic material flow analysis (DMFA) framework based on electricity generation to quantify time-series stocks and flows of bulk PV materials (e.g., solar glass and aluminum frames) throughout the life cycles of utility-scale silicon PV systems in the U.S. in the period 2000-2100. We apply the model to a range of scenarios to understand how material demands depend on selected PV-related parameters, different material circularity strategies, and recent module design trends (e.g., bifacial, frameless). We found that float glass and aluminum in PV installations would likely reach 100 million MT and 12 million MT by 2100, respectively, in the baseline scenario. The most influential parameters for PV installation and subsequent waste reduction are found to be module lifetime, module efficiency, annual degradation, and material reduction. Module recycling and component remanufacturing were found to be the most effective material circularity strategies for waste minimization. Panel reuse has negligible savings on waste under current module efficiencies compared to replacements with newer generations with higher efficiency. Ongoing trends to produce larger power frameless modules could save 10 million MT of glass and ~9 million MT of aluminum. Our results enable advanced planning for future materials needs and provide insight into potential opportunities to minimize waste.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗