When Rodman Media started Printed Electronics Now, photovoltaics was seen as perhaps the market with the greatest opportunities. To begin with, traditional photovoltaics are the largest market for conductive inks, as the backplanes are screenprinted. What seemed more promising were the opportunities for organic photovoltaics (OPV).

At the time, OPV seemed like the biggest market. Venture capital was flooding in to companies like Solyndra, Nanosolar and Konarka. It made some sense at the time; using roll-to-roll printing for solar panels would, in theory, be far less expensive than traditional silicon modules. The ability to print flexible sheets of large sizes made sense for areas such as building integrated PV, or BIPV. I remember one concept from Konarka, of creating solar canopies for bus stops and parking lots that could be used to recharge cars or cell phones. It made sense.

Of course, that never became a reality. All of these companies have faded into history. The reality was that the efficiencies of the solar modules were way too small relative to costs. Even if the companies could get a near double-digit efficiency in the lab, it could not come close to replicating that in production.

There are still a few companies that are successfully making OPV today – Heliatek, Epishine and ASCA come to mind, and I wrote a two-part series earlier this year that can be found here and here. These companies have found use cases that can benefit from OPV, particularly indoor uses where OPV functions well.

However, that is not all that is happening with photovoltaics.

Perovskites have become an increasingly impressive area of opportunity for photovoltaics. Research is ongoing at countless research centers and universities; NREL and Solliance are but two of the centers doing promising work on perovskites. The efficiencies are right up there with traditional silicon, and hybrid tandem cells promise to raise bar higher. Meanwhile companies like Saule Technologies and Oxford PV are commercializing their cells.

The second promising opportunity brings us back to the original use case, where traditional PV uses screenprinting conductive inks. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, passed by the US Congress and signed into law by the Biden administration in August 2022, increases the solar federal tax credit to 30% and extends it until 2034.

Meanwhile, The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, also signed into law by President Bident in August 2022, sets aside $39 billion to grow the US semiconductor industry. Europe is also working on its own version of the law.

We ahev seem the fruits of the Inflation Reduction Act already. On Aug. 30, First Solar, the leading US manufacturer of solar modules, announced that it is investing $1.2 billion in US manufacturing. This includes a new southeastern US manufacturing operation as well was expansion of its two Ohio plants.

“In passing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration has entrusted our industry with the responsibility of enabling America’s clean energy future and we must meet the moment in a manner that is both timely and sustainable,” said Mark Widmar, chief executive officer, First Solar, in announcing the investment. “This investment is an important step towards achieving self-sufficiency in solar technology, which, in turn, supports America’s energy security ambitions, its deployment of solar at scale, and its ability to lead with innovation.”

In addition to solar manufacturers, this will also be good news for conductive ink manufacturers.

We are seeing a lot of concern over climate change, and solar energy is one of the pillars that is hoped will help to curtail these changes. Conductive inks, printed and flexible electronics can help play a role in the photovoltaics segment.