How Does Location Determine the Economic Competitiveness of Grid‐Scale Emerging Photovoltaics?

Emerging photovoltaic (PV) devices with perovskite or organic absorber layers may play a substantial role in our energy future due to their potential low-cost manufacture and differing properties compared to established silicon equivalents. However, it is not clear to what extent physical and human geography influences the cost competitiveness of emerging PV, and consequently, how emerging PV should be optimized for differing locations. Herein, a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) model is used to examine the influence of insolation and economic factors by predicting the price of energy from emerging PV in eight different countries. Herein, it is demonstrated that capital costs play an important role in competitiveness, with low capital cost locations (e.g., India) benefitting more from low module costs and improved degradation, whereas high-cost locations (e.g., Japan) benefitted more from improved efficiency. The importance of considering location is demonstrated in the results as part of selecting which emerging PV is used, which is emphasized by predictions of LCOE for emerging PV devices reported in the literature over an 8 year period.