Solar Company Partners with UC Merced to Test New Panels

UC Merced is no stranger to solar panels. The campus, built to be sustainable from the beginning, is home to thousands of them, and they provide a good chunk of the electricity that powers the university.

But one very special panel was recently installed on the top of the Science and Engineering 2 Building.

The panel was crafted by Tandem PV, a Fremont company that uses perovskite-silicon tandem technology to make high-efficiency solar panels that integrate into existing manufacturing supply chains.

This panel has been treated with a thin coating - one-hundredth of a human hair thick - that should boost its energy output from 24 percent to 30 percent. This allows Tandem's technology to generate about 30% more electricity from the same footprint compared to typical silicon solar panels - reducing labor and balance of system costs which account for roughly 75% of utility-scale solar costs.

To test ​panel durability​ on a larger scale, Tandem PV ​has collaborated with​ researchers at UC Merced. They will collect and analyze data from the panel to see how it performs over the next several months. It was installed next to small versions of the same panel, which have been in place for earlier testing.

"This is a big deal for us because it will be the first time for Tandem PV to put a panel of this size out for testing," said Professor Sarah Kurtz, chair of UC Merced's electrical engineering department, who is leading the team that will analyze the results.

UC Merced offers the perfect combination of skilled researchers, community spirit and location for this kind of project, said Sean Dunfield of Tandem PV.

"Everybody knows Sarah Kurtz," Dunfield said. "She collaborates with a lot of people in the industry and they all have the utmost respect for her."

The California Energy Commission, which contributed funding, puts a priority on the work being done in-state.

"And UC Merced is an easy trip," Dunfield added. "I drove here from the Bay Area this morning to drop it off."

Having the panel on campus will make it convenient. Previously, such solar testing was done at UC Merced's Castle Aviation and Development Center at the former Air Force base in Atwater.

Tandem PV raised ​a Series A funding round of $50​ million to build the panels to the size they are. The company aims to raise ​a ​​S​​eries B ​​later this year​ to ​build a high-volumecommercial scale factory​.

The project has obvious payoff for Tandem PV, but the students also gain real-world, cutting-edge experience, Kurtz said. Her team ​that helped with this installation include ​Shariful Islam, a graduate student in charge of the data collection, and undergraduates Josue Vera, Luke Gagne and John Kim​. Other students help with data analysis​.

"This is a way for students to ​apply what they are learning in class ​in a way that​​​ is a tangible​ contribut​ion to the project​," Kurtz said. One of her students, Christine Chang, parlayed the work into an internship with Tandem PV this year. With so many other countries heavily investing in green energy, it's an opportunity to grow and train a local high-tech workforce.

It's not at all easy.

"​My experience with making​ solar cells ​is that you have to do a hundred or even a thousand​ things right​ or it doesn't work," Kurtz said. "Tandem PV​ has mastered many of the critical steps and​ is the leading company in the United States for this kind of technology."

Having the technology work is one thing, but it's also important that the panels be cost-efficient and durable.

"What everybody cares about is, what is the energy output at 30 years?" Dunfield said.

The work being done at UC Merced will have immediate and real impact on the effort.

"At the student level, it's really unusual to have access to this kind of project," Dunfield said. "You learn a lot in school, but here they can see the science in commercialization and tech transfer."

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