Photovoltaic Solar Energy

Sandia has been performing Photovoltaic R&D for over 40 years.

In 1976, Sandia tested the performance and reliability of the first fielded terrestrial systems in the co-sponsored DOE-NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory Block Program. Today, Sandia works with over 20 U.S. industry partners studying systems performance, reliability, and degradation; new module architectures; as well as materials and components in racking designs, power electronic systems, and anti-soiling and anti-reflective coatings.

PV at Sandia has led to multiple new and emerging technologies, including concentrating PV, mc-Si cells, and micro-engineered PV, and resulting in new companies, fields of study, and multi-national conglomerates. Sandia studies indoor/outdoor characterization to understand PV performance, reliability, and degradation at locations around the world: leading the PV Performance Modeling Collaborative, consisting of over 5,300 members in 50 countries; the Regional Test Center program at five climatically distinct locations in the US; and PVCAMPER, a consortium of ten countries coordinating reliability data collection and analysis.

Sandia’s latest PV contributions include leadership of the PV Perovskite Accelerator for Commercial Technologies Center (PV PACT) in partnership with other national labs, universities, and industry to improve perovskite PV performance and reliability.