An awful headline, but interesting to hear about a perovskite push. I’m not deep into the solar world, but they always seemed like something with potential from the limited reading I’ve done.

> Japan unveils world’s first solar super-panel: More powerful than 20 nuclear reactors

> Under its revised energy plan, the Ministry of Industry now prioritizes PSCs on Section 0 of its plan wherein Japan aims to develop PSC sections generating 20 gigawatts of electricity equivalent to 20 nuclear reactors by fiscal 2040.

Wtf is this headline. Why are journalists doing this shit.

I like solar, but this is a press release with almost zero details. Not a product with an efficiency rating and price tag.

Perovskites: non-silicon based semiconductors, in theory much cheaper for solar panels, in practice have lifetime issues.

Only 20? Why not 50? 100? These are rookie numbers. As long as you're just making shit up, I want a solar panel more powerful than 9000 nuclear reactors.

This article is a bad rewrite of this one from a month ago:

https://www.ecoticias.com/en/japan-super-solar-panel/12474/

> Scientists in Japan have been discussing the possibility of using a material called perovskite for solar panels

> The perovskite tandem cell has a theoretical efficiency limit of 43 per cent, while the silicon-based cell has a theoretical efficiency limit of 29 percent. It is speculated that these solar panels will be able to produce 20 gigawatts of electricity by 2040

> Under Section 0 of Japan’s revised energy plan, the Ministry of Industry prioritises the use of perovskite solar cells over the less efficient silicon-based solar cells of yore.

> Japanese company, Sekisui Chemical Co., with the help of the Japanese government, is now working towards developing advanced perovskite solar cells for circulation in the global market in the 2030s.

> At the center of this strategy is Japan’s position as the second-largest iodine producer in the world, a necessary ingredient in the manufacturing of perovskite solar cells.

Perovskites are a type of crystalline material, [most common are] methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (MAPbI3).. researchers have found that gaseous iodine produced by MAPbI3 make them inherently unstable.. and may not be a fixable issue.

[2017] https://www.asianscientist.com/2017/01/tech/stability-iodine...

> This makes traditional silicon-based panels quite impractical in countries that are densely populated, like Japan, when only large spaces can accommodate them.

Bullshit. Japan is full of homes with silicon-based panels on their roofs and they work quite well. See this neighborhood in Ota City/Gunma for example (use satellite view).

https://maps.app.goo.gl/7Xbi28BNuHSuV4wt7

This is a neighborhood full of people who work at the local Subaru factory who IIRC got a special deal on rooftop panels, but rooftop PV is still not unusual in Japan as a whole.

In my experience, no matter how many panels you install, Solar can cover power consumption 30-40% of its max capacity. Winter, night, bad weather will eat the rest. To go beyond the 30-40% you will need energy store or alternative sources.

This is still great but not a 100% solution.

The article's title, in particular use of the word "first," isn't supported by the content. The title suggests a change or improvement in the technical status quo ante, but the article itself only describes a quantitative scaling up of existing technology, which is Perovskite panels, nothing new. No change is presented, only its scale of deployment.

There’s no unveiling right? This is just an announcement that they’ll build perovskite solar cells and sell them in 2030s.

> Supported by the government, Sekisui Chemical Co. is now developing advanced PSC modules for their future application to a broad market in the 2030s.

>Renewable energy in Japan will receive a *seismic shift*

Maybe not the best analogy for the most earthquake-prone country in the world?

Aspiration for 20 GW of power by 2040, or in 15 years time.

In the period 1980-1990, I repeat in a 50% shorter period commencing forty years ago, France installed 34 GW of nuclear.

All I want is for someone advocating renewables over nuclear to give me a single example of a buildout of available-in-winter power exceeding that target with the forty years of investment available.

Or to agree that we have, fundamentally and quite deliberately, become worse at generating carbon-free energy.

Perovskite cells still don't make much sense for the majority of applications (and I suspect they never will): they're expensive, generally use toxic materials, and degrade much more quickly than silicon panels. Silicon panels are cheap, non-toxic, and long-lasting and plenty efficient enough for 90% of use cases.

It is so full of hyperbole but hardly any useful fact!

Besides the words "Japan" and "solar", the headline has nothing at all to do with the content of the article or technical reality, and sounds more like the beginning of an anime story arc. Like someone prompted an AI with "every headline should have a power level over 9000".

the perovskite material is currently impossible to put into service as it degrades instantly when exposed to ambient conditions, and there is no word yet on a perfect hermetic sealing technology to protect it. so this should read as an attempt to leverage the current anti china (market cornered for good,cheap, solar), into a pivot towards something that has been stuck on almost for 15 years now

The "Cold Fusion" vibes are strong with this one.

Sharing this episode without vouching for its accuracy.

   How Record Breaking Perovskites Are Here NOW [2024-12-17]
   Undecided with Matt Ferrell
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEgkTnkNhRs

(I feel like Matt Ferrell does solid reporting and analysis, but I'm still undecided. Any one know otherwise?)

My noob takeaway, from Ferrell and others, is that solar cells will continue to improve (per cost-learning curve) for the foreseeable future. It's no longer the bottleneck.

We now need to focus on the current bottlenecks. Like policy, building codes, installation costs, inverters, coercing utilities and their regulators into accelerating grid improvements (to accommodate new generation, storage, and customers), etc.

Lastly, per Jenny Chase (Bloomberg NEF), we urgently need to double down on renewable competitors to solar, like wind and advanced geothermal. To keep those tech stacks in the running (cost of capital, ROI). So they remain commercially available for use cases not addressed by solar. Lest they be left behind and therefore more likely to stay on fossil carbon.