A very good point being made w.r.t. the Green diagram. You are correct in that we are still looking to realise Gen3 at the cost predicted, while maintaining the predicted high efficiency. That probably is why there may need to be a 'correction factor' in Gen4, for the realisation of very high efficiencies with the predicted low cost is proving to be very challenging. Therefore, the need to use learning from Gen 1&2 in terms of improving efficiency and Gen 3 in terms of ease of application, to provide a 'leapfrog' technology which is more realisable, and can be developed to a technology.

This 4G PV will overlay the Green Diagram 3G of efficiency vs cost per watt w.r.t. lower half of efficiency, and hopefully further lower cost to $0.20 per W and below.

It is important that within the EU we have clear cut PV goals for Horizon 2020; At present only 5 projects of the 70 funded in the previous FP7 Solar PV call was based on Gen1, with 29 based on Gen3. There is a view that maybe R&D should follow more closely the incumbent technology (discussions at EU PV project meeting -22 consortia- at NN13), and not predominantly look at the future.

For the EU (and world in general) to make a mark in the manufacture of PV and contribution to society, it needs to have a technology that is better defined and realisable; which it can innovate, develop and manufacture, with all of the supply chains being supported.

Furthermore, there is an urgent social (and moral) need for a step reduction in cost for this solar PV technology to be available to the world populous to provide more than the current 1% of the energy provision. This is exacerbated by the knowledge of the potential 10,000 oversupply in solar energy that is wasted, as we are not able to harvest and store solar PV in the quantites we require. We therefore believe there is a need for a more realisable technology goal, that can also act to inspire the catalysing of scientists, engineers and technologists, including entrepreneurs to create and deliver the new 4G Solar PV products!

Article ‘Inorganics - in - Organics’: Recent Developments and Outloo...

If you refer to Martin Greens famous PV generation figure, even the 3rd generation is barely realized in actual devices. Could you maybe explain, where in this figure you see your kind of concept? Of course, you have a novel and promising solar cell concept developed. But why do you aim for calling it a new generation (which always leads to Greens graph)?

A very good point being made w.r.t. the Green diagram. You are correct in that we are still looking to realise Gen3 at the cost predicted, while maintaining the predicted high efficiency. That probably is why there may need to be a 'correction factor' in Gen4, for the realisation of very high efficiencies with the predicted low cost is proving to be very challenging. Therefore, the need to use learning from Gen 1&2 in terms of improving efficiency and Gen 3 in terms of ease of application, to provide a 'leapfrog' technology which is more realisable, and can be developed to a technology.

This 4G PV will overlay the Green Diagram 3G of efficiency vs cost per watt w.r.t. lower half of efficiency, and hopefully further lower cost to $0.20 per W and below.

It is important that within the EU we have clear cut PV goals for Horizon 2020; At present only 5 projects of the 70 funded in the previous FP7 Solar PV call was based on Gen1, with 29 based on Gen3. There is a view that maybe R&D should follow more closely the incumbent technology (discussions at EU PV project meeting -22 consortia- at NN13), and not predominantly look at the future.

For the EU (and world in general) to make a mark in the manufacture of PV and contribution to society, it needs to have a technology that is better defined and realisable; which it can innovate, develop and manufacture, with all of the supply chains being supported.

Furthermore, there is an urgent social (and moral) need for a step reduction in cost for this solar PV technology to be available to the world populous to provide more than the current 1% of the energy provision. This is exacerbated by the knowledge of the potential 10,000 oversupply in solar energy that is wasted, as we are not able to harvest and store solar PV in the quantites we require. We therefore believe there is a need for a more realisable technology goal, that can also act to inspire the catalysing of scientists, engineers and technologists, including entrepreneurs to create and deliver the new 4G Solar PV products!

Article ‘Inorganics - in - Organics’: Recent Developments and Outloo...

May I cite your article?

"Traditionally, the 1st generation (1G) PV technology is known to comprise of photovoltaic technology based on thick crystalline films (mainly Si) which not only leads to high efficiency, but also high cost."

I think it is fair to say that this statement does not reflect the current situation of the PV market at all. There was an enourmous cost and price reduction in crystalline silicon PV in the last decades, making PV modules cheap for customers.

For a 1st generation predicted to be dead quite soon this is not too bad, is it?

In my eyes the whole "generation" concept is highly questionable and a lot of photovoltaic scientists (also non-silicon specialists) have great problems with it.

The main purpose of this concept is marketing and not science.

So in my humble opinion adding another generation makes the thing not better.

I agree with the sentiments, but unfortunately, with respect, not with the conclusion. There is no talk about a generation being dead .... but improvements to any technology are a natural extension of life .... particularly for scientists! Agree fully with the cost reduction of 1G Silicon, and long may it continue, but unfortunately it is still not enough to impact the world as significantly as we would all like. See statistics of less than 1% world deployment.

Solar PV is an absolute necessity in the developing nations which is life-changing, but still too expensive. So, the point is that we need the cost to become lower, faster.

I do agree that adding a new generation may not make the technology any better immediately, but certainly increases the options! Options allow for variety and more potential breakthroughs that could be life changing for large groups of society .....