Bath is a city that has ambitious plans to increase its environmental sustainability. The city council has already implemented measures to reduce noise and air pollution and is investing in schemes to increase biodiversity.
Solar panel installation in Bath
One major area in which Bath is seeking to make improvements is in carbon emissions reduction. 5% of the city’s residents have already installed solar panels on their homes and businesses and hundreds more have registered their interest in powering their properties with renewable energy.
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The future of solar panels
In recent years, Perovskite solar cells have gained attention, promising high efficiency and low costs, making them a strong candidate for mass production. In tests conducted to date, Perovskite solar cells achieve similar power conversion to traditional silicon-based solar cells, but are cheaper to manufacture and are suitable for large-scale production due to the different ways in which they can be applied.
Though the field of Perovskite solar cells has seen rapid technological advances, there are some challenges which need to be overcome in order for Perovskite solar cells to become a suitable alternative to silicon-based cells.
Perovskite challenges
Perovskite materials are sensitive to UV light, moisture and oxygen, all of which can degrade their performance, rendering them unstable. There is also concern that some of the materials used in the cells could be toxic and damage human health, so further research is required to identify less hazardous alternatives.
It has so far proven challenging to achieve consistent performance and quality in large-scale production and this is an issue that must be overcome if solar panel installation Bath is to truly take off. Finally, further work is required to identify suitable recycling and disposal routes to minimise the environmental impact once Perovskite solar cells reach their end of life.
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In conclusion, Perovskite solar cells have a number of challenges which must be overcome. But should success be achieved, they represent a very viable alternative to silicon-based cells. And their reduced cost and equitable performance could encourage greater solar panel adoption in Bath.