Critical materials and PV cells interconnection

Abstract

Assessment of the critical nature of a material for an application is a relevant notion to anticipate supply issues for an application and a territory. To establish a list of the critical materials, we have developed an approach taking into account geological scarcity, deployment logistics and societal aspects. This article aims to apply this framework to photovoltaic (PV) module interconnection. We draw the conclusion that even if concerns of critical materials are focused on Silver (Ag) scarcity (on metallization part), interconnection materials such as Tin (Sn) and Bismuth (Bi) are even more critical, mainly due to their mostly dispersive uses. This leads us to a standard module conception analysis and emphasizes the interest of improving a more modularized PV module architecture in order to improve high value recycling. An example of such a conception is given with NICE concept. Another example offering a way to optimize metallization conception toward a less consuming pattern is also described.