Editorial to the proceedings of the 4th international conference on crystalline silicon photovoltaics (SiliconPV 2014)

Abstract

Silicon photovoltaics can be seen as the workhorse for the worldwide introduction of solar electricity. Furthermore, due to the recent price reduction of PV modules, grid parity has been reached in most parts of the world. On the other hand, in laboratory and pilot line environments, cell efficiencies above 20% have been reached for different silicon-based cell concepts. The challenge of the PV community is to combine the two: high efficiencies at low cost in large volumes. Reduction in material consumption and the use of low-cost materials at cell- and module level while maintaining high efficiency and good reliability will be the key to reaching this goal. Therefore, innovative and emerging technologies to enable future cell- and module architectures are needed. With this it is expected that silicon photovoltaics can fulfil this role for many years.