600 MW Perovskite Solar Cell Facility Slated For Turkey

March 31st, 2015 by Tina Casey

If this doesn’t give the global fossil fuel market the willies, it should. Turkey has just inked a huge deal with the Australian perovskite solar cell innovator Dyesol, and the result will be a 600 megawatt production facility located in Mersin, a major seaport. The factory will churn out product for export as well as for Turkish customers, as part of a plan to unshackle the country from dependence on imported fuel.

A Huge Perovskite Solar Cell Deal For Turkey

CleanTechnica has been following the progress of this project since February 2014, when our friends over at RenewEconomy tipped us off, and things have been moving quickly since then.

In November, we checked out reliability testing of a new solar cell design by Dyesol’s partner EPFL, and just this past January we passed along news that the company will work with Turkey’s Nesli DSC to develop a prototype manufacturing facility and ramp up commercial production.

The latest announcement from Dyesol brings word that after two years of planning and discussion, the company has just signed a non-binding letter of intent from the Development Bank of Turkey (TKB) to go full steam ahead with a three-part process: a prototype, pilot line, and mass production leading to the construction of a 600 megawatt facility that will employ a staff of 2,500.

Here’s where the willies come in, as related by Dyesol:

In the Letter of Intent, Mr Bahattin Sekkin, Deputy CEO of TKB, outlined the strategic importance of introducing renewable energy technology to Turkey. The conditions for the proliferation of solar technology in Turkey and its neighbouring countries are very favourable. Turkey is a G20 country and a fast growing economy with a need to strongly diversify away from its current reliance on foreign energy sources, which negatively impact its current account…

If all goes according to the timeline, the pilot line will go up next year, with the glass substrates to follow in 2018.







Get Ready For Building-Integrated Perovskite Solar Cells

For those of you new to the topic, perovskite refers to a highly promising — solarly speaking — class of crystalline materials that are relatively cheap and easy to synthesize.

The full solar potential of perovskite has yet to be unlocked, but in the meantime, as you can see from Dyesol’s plans, it is already finding a place in next-generation solar technology.

Dyesol will be looking to start with both utility-scale and distributed solar applications, but that’s just the start. Its perovskite solar technology can also lend itself to building-integrated applications such as windows, walls, and roofing, and the company also has plans to expand in that direction.

For that matter, in its press materials, Dyesol hinted that a new report on its technical milestones is due out next month, so stay tuned.

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Image Credit: “Perovskite Precursors for the Solid State Dye Solar Cell” courtesy of Dyesol.









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