Today photovoltaics (PV) has become one of the most cost-effective forms of electricity production globally and in some regions is already the most competitive unsubsidised form of electricity. Despite positive cost and growing developments, European PV manufacturers are facing a decline in production due to competition from third countries. The fragmentation of the value chain compared to competing actors is believed to be the major factor for this decrease in the competitiveness.
SUPER PV is a collaborative European-funded project initiated in 2018 by a multidisciplinary team of 26 partners from different industries, countries, backgrounds and company profiles that, under the coordination of Solitek and Protech, will work collaboratively ensuring an innovative approach and result of the project. IREC is a partner in this project. Together, the consortium targeted a significant LCOE reduction (26%-37%) for European-made PV by adopting a hybrid approach combining technological innovations and data management methods. Introducing superior quality PV systems will create conditions for accelerating large scale deployment in Europe and help EU PV business to regain leadership on world market.
On November 2022, the SUPERPV project came to an end. The project aimed to significantly reduce the LCOE of solar photovoltaics (~30%) by tacking in an integral way three cornerstone steps: PV module, system integration and power electronics innovation levels.
Three research groups at IREC took part in the project to reach key developments. The Power Systems group contributed with the development of an innovative fault-tolerant power converter, Digital Twin for O&M, and LORA gateways. The Solar Energy Materials and Systems group developed a low-cost optical dust sensor. The Energy Systems Analytics group IREC has been the responsible for LCA evaluation and comparison of innovations, aiming to provide an environmental analysis of the whole life-cycle view.
The project held a final meeting in Morocco from 22 to the 24th of November 2022. Project partners visited the Ouarzazate demo site located at Masen facilities, and the demo site situated at the Université Mohammed V in Rabat. The visit was held by Moroccan project partners, Masen, MAScIR and Université Mohammed V.
About the demo sites
SUPER PV testing was performed in three different climatic regions of extreme conditions:
- Temperate (cold/wet) climate: Vilnius, Lithuania.
- Tropical (hot/wet) climate: Sevilla, Spain.
- Desert (hot/dry) climate: Tunisia and Morocco.
Learn more here: Demo Sites – Super PV
We invite you to learn more about our project innovations, results and demo sites by watching SUPERPV video here.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 792245.
