The first modern photovoltaic solar cell was made at Bell Laboratories in 1954.
In the next decade, solar arrays found their first significant application on spacecraft.
[President Jimmy Carter on TV:]
Shifting to more abundant sources of energy by the development and the use of American technology.
In the 1970s, the Solar Energy Research Institute,
now the National Renewable Energy Laboratory was founded.
From its genesis to today NREL has collaborated with companies, universities, and other labs.
Many of today's technologies were impacted by these partnerships and NREL work.
Photovoltaics—or PV—has developed from a
niche technology to one of our fastest-growing energy sources.
The cost of PV has dropped by a factor of 300, while efficiency has steadily climbed.
As a result PV deployment has been growing exponentially at
an average rate of 30% annually for decades.
Today, the cost of electricity from solar energy
is less than most conventional energy sources in many locations.
As a result, about 30% of additions to U.S. electricity generation from the past 5 years
now come from PV.
Five states now derive more than 10% of their electricity from the sun.
The solar industry now employs about 300,000 people in the U.S.,
more than most other energy sources.
Despite this progress, we 're not done yet.
With further research in PV energy integration, and energy storage PV could produce 60% of U.S.
electricity by 2050. In fact NREL envisions a future where PV powers most aspects of our lives
from heating to transportation as well as bringing power to underserved and developing communities.
At NREL, we work closely with a number of partners to conduct research on every aspect of
PV technology, including validating the efficiency and reliability of the latest technologies
improving the efficiency of solar cells of every type, and working on every application
from those that are common today to those that are still in their infancy.
The silicon solar cell is the workhorse of modern PV technology.
NREL has worked on developing this technology for the past 40 years and continues to
collaborate with industry to advance new cell designs and rapidly decrease costs.
NREL has also led pioneering research on thin film-solar cells.
With a thickness of less than one-tenth the diameter of a human
hair, these solar cells promise low material costs and the potential for flexibility.
The largest U.S. solar manufacturer, First Solar produces cadmium telluride solar cells.
Coated glass enters a factory and is processed into a completed solar panel in just a few hours.
NREL work has been instrumental in developing this technology, as well as CIGS,
which is another thin-film technology that can be deposited on glass,
polymers, and metal foils for a myriad of applications.
Perovskite solar cells exemplify how research results can be unexpected.
In the past decade, their efficiency has increased dramatically from single digits to above 25%.
Today, NREL is working with a consortium of research institutes and manufacturers
to increase perovskite solar cell stability and ease of manufacture.
III-V solar cells named for semiconductors made from columns III and V of the periodic table,
are the most efficient solar cells.
They are ideal for applications where efficiency is more important than cost, such as spacecraft.
NREL worked with leaders in the space PV industry to develop today's III-V solar cells.
Now, NREL is partnering with the Air Force and DOD Operational Energy Office
to lower costs 100-fold without compromising efficiency.
By stacking different solar cells of different materials,
a "multijunction" cell can be created with even greater efficiency.
In 2020, NREL set a world record, with a 47%-efficient six-junction cell.
This and many other world record cells across different technologies have been made at NREL.
With the help of pioneering research and development,
PV panels are increasingly finding their way into new applications—remote military bases,
building integration such as windows, agriculture, aviation, and other roles.
Inexpensive electrons from solar can be used to power electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
And NREL is working on new applications such as converting solar energy into stored energy
in the form of molecules and fuels like hydrogen.
For every application of solar energy, NREL is innovating with partners around the world.
As research drives energy storage and solar costs down,
solar energy can provide low-cost, clean energy, as long as the sun shines on earth.