New project at Roltec: LEEMONS

Photovoltaic (PV) cells will play a key role in the global transition to more sustainable energy sources. There has been a huge increase in the number of solar PV installations, driven by a drastic reduction in the price of silicon photovoltaics (Si-PV). It is now widely recognized that increasing the efficiency of PV is crucial for further development and continuous cost reduction. However, after decades of research and development, Si-PVs are approaching the theoretical power conversion efficiency limit (currently 26.8% from a possible 29.4%) as defined by the Shockley-Queisser limit due to thermalization losses. There is currently no commercially implemented technology that can overcome this challenge.

LEEMONS will perform a proof-of-concept demonstration of a new technology, electron multiplication, which overcomes these fundamental thermalization losses by converting high-energy electrons into a few lower-energy electrons.

This solution is compatible with 80% (possibly 95%) of current PV production capacity as well as future projects, therefore requiring little change to current production lines and low capital expenditure.
The LEEMONS project will produce prototypes made of the most modern European PV cells (based on PERC and heterojunction solar cells).
These integrated cells should demonstrate an increase in power conversion efficiency, thus opening a new technological area that will help deliver economic, social and environmental benefits. Roltec's role in the meringue project will focus on numerical modeling and analysis of experimental results, optical and structural measurements of cells, and the development of an alternative metallization method.

The EU project to be implemented under the HORIZON EUROPE program is scheduled to start in October 2024 and will last 3 years. Work is currently underway to establish a consortium, which currently includes:

• Segton AdT, France (coordinator),
• CEA - COMMISSARIAT AL ENERGIE ATOMIQUE
• ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES, France
• INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ENERGY RESEARCHCENTER KONSTANZ ISC EV Germany
• COMMUNAUTE D' UNIVERSITES ET ETABLISSEMENTS UNIVERSITE BOURGOGNE - FRANCHE - COMTE, France
• UNIVERSITE DE FRANCHE - COMTE, France
• Roltec, Poland