SOLNOWAT · Development of a competitive 0 GWP dry process to reduce the dramatic water consumption in the ever-expanding solar cells manufacturing industry

The proposed project (SOLNOWAT) aims to develop a dry route alternative for the solar cell industry that will eliminate the very high water consumption and GWP emissions of current process while meeting all production requirements. This project will clearly outline the environmental impact, cost and efficiency of the new process and equipment required, and include dissemination to cell manufacturers.BENEFITS-Dramatic reduction of water usage*-Very low-environmental-impact processing *-Advance process control, real time monitoring*-High-throughput, high-yield, integrated industrial processing (inline)*-Devices with increased efficiency*-Enabling thin wafer processing* and surface decoupling (single sided).-Smaller footprint-Low cost of ownership*-Reviewed by a panel of cell manufacturersMost of these benefits(*) are fundamental criteria outlined by the European Photovoltaic Technology Platform in its Strategic Research Agenda for Photovoltaic Solar Energy Technology, in order to meet the sector’s ambitions for technology implementation and industry competitiveness.The SMEs involved believe that by cooperating together through this R&D program, they will be able to achieve significant results. The consortium is composed of 5 SMEs and 3 RTD performers located in 5 different EU countries. The R&D work will propose and develop a novel process replacing wet chemical steps by 0 GWP dry process steps. The successful development will lead to a cleaner, highly controllable, and potentially cheaper process that will deliver more efficient solar cell products with far less environmental impact. The process will meet the current high throughput demand from the industry and show its potential to meet the PV market growth demand.""