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Japan relies 1.5 billion to a breakthrough in ultra-thin, light and bending solar collectors of the next generation, which subsidizes the commercialization of a technology, from which analysts say that the dominance of China's renewable energies through renewable energies and could reduce the dependence on Tokyo on fossil fuels.
Perov sciences are 20 -thinner than normal solar collectors and can be plastered over stadiums, airports and office buildings, which enables the introduction of solar masses in a mountainous country to which the open space is missing, which is required for more conventional solar parks.
Officials in Tokyo have determined an ambitious goal of installing enough cells to correspond to 20 nuclear power plants up to 2040, and to position the technology as essential for Japan for his goal for up to 50 percent of its electricity for renewable energies.
In this sense, the Sekisui Chemical government, the company at the head of the efforts to develop Perovskite Solarfilm, provides subsidies worth up to $ 157 billion (USD 1 billion). This is over 60 billion yen support for the earlier development of technology, and more could be given to funds to build environmentally friendly supply chains.
“Solar cells from Perovskit are an important trump card to pursue decarbonization, economic growth and energy security at the same time,” said Sadanori Ito, the government official behind the plan. “We consider it an indispensable technology for the further spread of renewable energies in Japan.”
China produces 85 percent of global solar cells and 79 percent of the polysilicium, the material that flows into it. In contrast, iodine is of Perovskitellen, for which Chile and Japan are the world's leading suppliers. This could help reduce the risks to critical supply chains and energy infrastructures by over -controlling a single country, according to analysts.
In view of the cells, in the early years of production and uncertainty as to how much mass production will reduce costs, at least three times more expensive than current technology.
Yana Hryshko, head of solar supply chain research at Wood Mackenzie, an advice, said that Japan's plans were “feasible” and found that “it is not safe to buy from China in terms of energy security”.
“The only place where a certain technology can be enlarged and the costs can be reduced are China,” she added.
Nevertheless, Japan's focus is “not only the right way, but also the only way to try to regain competitiveness and control of your supply chains, said Hryshko.
Perovskit solar cells are layers built from chemical components, including a powerful crystal structure, which together are only a millimeter thick and can absorb large amounts of light.
Since China has land for solar parks, its manufacturers concentrate on heavier forms of perov cheats that are surrounded in glass or are used together with silicon solar tins, and not concentrated on the Japan on the ultra-thin film type.
“We are a very strong threat from China's speed and scaling,” said Yusuke Sakurai, business development manager at Toshibas Perovskitzellen. “But because China develops perov chillers from the glass type. . . I see it as another market. “
Sekisui Chemical has set up a new company with 1,000 employees after using his devices in his headquarters from Osaka, bus stops outside the Osaka station and Tokyo Cruise Terminal. Sekisui controls a share of 86 percent in the new company, while the remaining 14 percent are held by the Japan state development bank.
The plastic producer has solved the largest technical bottleneck to avoid moisture by developing a special sealing resin. It is planned to invest 1 gigawatts of the cells in a former sharp factory by 2030 to produce 1 gigawatt of the cells, half of which are covered by state subsidies. In this size, it expects the costs to correspond to conventional silicon solar cells.
It is immediately the case that it is a stable production of film with a width of 1 meter from 30 cm. According to Futoshi Kamiwaki, President of the Sekisui Solar Film, the new company, 100 mg per year will be produced a year to bring the costs to the three or four times the regular solar modules.
The other outstanding challenge is to develop the materials in order to attach the panels to different types of walls, roofs and urban surfaces.
“If we can clarify these two challenges, we can enter mass production,” said Kamiwaki, who also keeps an eye on the export of cells to the USA and in Europe. “In the area of solar energy, this is the last chance to tackle the Chinese market dominance.”