ENEL: Our new project for increasingly efficient solar cells wins Horizon Europe funding

The European Commission has recently given the green light to an agreement to finance the NEXUS project, which will also involve Enel Green Power, focused on the development of innovative processes for tandem HJT/Perovskite technology for the production of sustainable and high-performance photovoltaic modules.

Coordinated by the University of Oxford, the NEXUS project is supported by a multidisciplinary consortium with 12 partners from 9 European countries; 5 industrial partners, including 2 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and 7 research and technology organizations. It will speed up Europe’s transition to clean energy thanks to the development of tandem perovskite-silicon technology, in line with the new European paradigm. This project uses a global approach to the eco-compatible design of photovoltaic systems based on sustainability and circularity, with the goal of reusing a large quantity of materials across the entire value chain. This type of innovation will improve energy yield and costs, helping ensure a clean energy transition and a reduction in the EU’s dependence on raw materials supplied from outside Europe.

Cells that produce more energy

The goal of NEXUS, which is part of the EU’s Horizon EUROPEframework program for research and innovation for the period 2021-2027, is specifically to develop bifacial heterojunction (HJT) photovoltaic cells that capture more solar light by using both sides of the cell, and to incorporate the “Tandem” structure, which utilizes two overlapping cells, thereby making it possible to capture more light compared to single cell structures. This combination enables photovoltaic modules to achieve an average increase in energy production of more than a third compared to current market standards, with efficiency levels exceeding 30%.

The role of 3SUN

TANGO is an acronym of “iTaliAN pv Giga factOry”, because the new cells are also the result of work conducted at our 3SUN factory in Catania, which recently won a substantial grant from the Commission in Brussels to transform the facility into a Gigafactory and become Europe’s largest solar plant for the production of photovoltaic panels.

Thanks to our participation in the NEXUS project, which spans the entire value chain for this innovation, our investment in 3SUN will boost local employment directly and indirectly, creating more than one thousand jobs by 2024, and will also serve as a catalyst to reinvigorate the photovoltaic industry in Europe.

Source: Press Release/Newsroom