The solar panel – the most affordable source of energy – celebrates 70 years today!

It was exactly 70 years ago that the American Bell Laboratories introduced the first silicon photovoltaic cell. An inconspicuous technology that was originally used mainly in space exploration has since become one of the world’s main sources of energy and helps humanity fight climate change. At the same time, without the discovery of the silicon cell, humanity’s efforts to decarbonize would have been significantly more complicated.

Experts and business representatives agreed on this at today’s panel debate The most affordable source of energy: seven decades since the introduction of the first silicon solar cell. The event was organized by the Alliance for Energy Self-sufficiency in cooperation with the Union of Modern Energy and the Solar Association.

Especially in recent years world class the installed capacity of photovoltaic power plants is literally skyrocketing. Today, there are solar panels in the world with a total capacity of approximately 1,500 GW, and by the end of the year, experts expect an increase to 2,000 GW, i.e. by a quarter. At the same time, even 15 years ago, the output of the world’s solar power plants was only 20 GW, i.e. 100 times smaller.

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“In the last two decades, photovoltaics have gradually become one of the main sources of energy in developed countries. At the same time, if we look at the decarbonization plans of the European Union, the USA or China, it is certain that the whole world is still at the beginning in the use of solar energy and the installed power of the panels is nowhere near reaching its potential. For example, over 3.5 gigawatts of photovoltaics are installed in the Czech Republic today, but by 2030 this output may grow to 15 gigawatts, i.e. four times as much,” says Martin Sedlák, program director of the Union of Modern Energy and executive director of the Alliance for Energy Self-sufficiency.

Just as the adoption of photovoltaics is progressing around the world, so are the efforts of researchers to improve it. Bell Labs’ first silicon cell had an efficiency of about 6%, while panels with an efficiency of 22 to 24% are commonly available on the market today, and even 46% has been achieved in the laboratory. And along with that, the price of the panels is also falling.

“The efficiency of silicon photovoltaics has come so close to its fundamental value that it is unrealistic to assume its further significant improvement. For more efficient photovoltaics, we will have to start combining two different photovoltaic cells, this will allow increasing the efficiency of the photovoltaic conversion up to 40 percent.” says Martin Ledinský, head of the group of thin layers for photovoltaic applications of the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences.

“Today, development is returning to where it started. The first cell in the 1950s used so-called N-type silicon, but it was more complicated to manufacture. So the developers switched to P-type silicon. But now the N-type technology has been mastered, we can deal with it, so we are returning to the original technologies. The silicon hasn’t changed, only the layers surrounding it have changed.” explains the technological development of Ladislava Černá, head of the Photovoltaic Systems Diagnostics Laboratory of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University.

“Panel prices have been falling for a long time, even though they were subject to an increase during the pandemic. At the same time, the efficiency of the panels increases further, i.e. there is more music for the same money. However, it should be remembered that the fluctuations in the prices of the panels themselves, which make up only part of the costs, are reflected more in the economics of land-based power plant projects, not rooftops on family houses. There we remind you that in the Czech Republic too often the price of the panel is decided instead of the overall quality of the project,” points out Jan Krčmář, executive director of the Solar Association.

Solar companies need faster permitting processes

While the development of photovoltaics in the world is fast but predictable, the Czech Republic experienced a decade of stagnation after a huge increase in 2009 and 2010, which was followed by a solar wave caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For the development of the solar sector, it is important that the demand is more stable.

In addition to cheap emission-free energy, photovoltaics also bring thousands of qualified jobs. At the same time, the faster development not only of photovoltaics, but of renewable sources as a whole, would be helped by the facilitation of permitting processes, a more transparent approach of state authorities and the strengthening of the capacities of distribution networks.

“I see the potential in community energy, where specific individuals benefit from cheap electricity. Photovoltaics should produce energy where it is consumed. And we’re slowly coming back to it, people are installing solar panels on their homes, sharing solar energy will spread it to a wider circle of society.” says Decci CEO Darina Merdassi, referring to the upcoming launch of Community Communities.

“The photovoltaic sector is constantly advancing technologically. At SOLEK, we are dedicated to innovative projects such as floating solar parks, agrovoltaics and battery storage, which will be an essential part of the future energy industry. With the growing popularity of systems combined with battery storage, the possibility of better regulation of energy production and consumption opens up, which contributes to more efficient management of energy resources. We work closely with government and commercial partners to ensure that new technologies are not only technically feasible, but also economically efficient.” adds Zdeněk Sobotka, founder of SOLEK Holding, and thus shows that photovoltaics has a much wider application than today’s most common roof and ground installations.

“The change in approach to photovoltaics can be perceived positively. From the criminalization of the sector after 2010, photovoltaic operators have become entrepreneurs in the field that we need to strengthen energy security. And I consider prejudices to be the biggest negative: that solar parks destroy agricultural land and that rooftop PV plants destroy monuments.” provides tips on what would help the Czech Republic to grow photovoltaics faster Pavel Doucha, partner of the law office Doucha Šikola advokáti.

“Photovoltaics went through and is going through a stormy period of price, subsidy and investment growth and decline, but today it has already become one of the cheapest sources of electrical energy that anyone can purchase and thus become at least partially independent of the dictates of energy prices. The installed power will certainly soon exceed many of today’s assumptions, and I hope that the Czech Republic will catch up with the rest of Europe, especially now that photovoltaics does not need subsidies, but rather the support of territorial and construction approval processes and energy legislation.” says Tomáš Korostenský, executive director of Ekotechnik.

source: press release