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Duke Physics Colloquium: Terawatt-Scale Photovoltaics: Trajectories and Challenges

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Wednesday, January 31, 2018
4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Nancy M. Haegel (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

It is well understood and commonly cited that the solar energy resource significantly exceeds the world's total energy consumption. However, despite dramatic advances in deployment and cost reduction, the vision of PV providing a significant fraction of global electricity generation-and ultimately, total energy demand- remains to be realized. In the near term, PV has a clear path for substantial growth. Longer term, the question remains whether PV will be able to provide a moderate (e.g., 20%, ~ 4 TW in 2030) or a large (e.g., 50%, ~ 10 TW in 2030) fraction of world electricity needs. Terawatt scale PV deployment is achievable with growth rates substantially below what the industry has achieved over the past decade. Material for this presentation will be drawn from The Terawatt Workshop and a resulting April 2017 publication in Science. Global leaders in PV came together to highlight the opportunity and discuss the challenges that could impede the vision of TW scale PV... Click to the website for the full abstract. | Faculty Host: Stephen Teitsworth | Refreshments will be served before the event in room 128.

Contact: Cristin Paul