Solar tech innovator CubicPV joins E-ffiliates
The Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership (E-ffiliates), a corporate membership program administered by the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, has welcomed solar manufacturing company CubicPV to advance research on the next generation of solar energy technologies.
Headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, CubicPV specializes in the development of perovskite tandem solar modules. While conventional commercial solar devices are composed of silicon-based solar cells, tandem solar modules combine a layer of silicon solar cells with another layer formed from an inexpensive and highly tunable chemical structure known as perovskite to unlock higher performance and enable energy densities that well exceed today’s silicon-only devices. The result lowers the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for solar power.
CubicPV’s membership in E-ffiliates expands an existing collaboration between the company and solar researcher Barry Rand, professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, to improve the stability of metal-halide perovskites, whose comparatively poor durability has limited the commercial viability of tandem solar devices. As one of the inaugural projects to receive support through the Fund for Energy Research with Corporate Partners, Rand and his collaborators at CubicPV are exploring ways to prevent corrosion in metal-halide perovskites by preventing or slowing the movement of halides such as iodide throughout the solar module.
“Solar PV is a remarkable technology, but the industry must still innovate if we want to thwart the worst effects of climate change. The power of tandem technology is not only its promise to extend the era of LCOE reduction for solar but also its ability to accelerate the energy transition. We are delighted to expand our work with the Andlinger Center to solve the remaining hurdles to broad perovskite tandem adoption,” said Adam Lorenz, chief technology officer at CubicPV.
As an E-ffiliates member, CubicPV plans to continue its work with Rand and other Princeton faculty to improve the durability, performance, and manufacturability of tandem solar devices. Through continued innovation, the partnership aims to move past the efficiency limitations of today’s solar technologies to deliver more power per square meter of solar deployed.
“Solar energy research is reaching an exciting inflection point, with next-generation technologies growing closer and closer to demonstrating the performance and stability they need to amplify their contribution to the portfolio of clean energy solutions,” said Chris Greig, the associate director for external partnerships and the Theodora D. ’78 & William H. Walton III ’74 Senior Research Scientist at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. “We are pleased to deepen our existing collaboration with CubicPV as we work together to drive innovation toward a low-carbon future.”