Economic Estimation of Polymeric Solar Cells Fabrication

P olymeric solar cells are a relatively new generation of photovoltaics that havereceived much attention in recent years. Due to advantages such as the abundanceof raw materials, the ability to produce in different colors according to customer demand,flexibility, light weight and low production cost, this generation of solar cells has a greatpotential for commercialization and production on large scale. In order to commercializethe polymer solar cells, it is important to evaluate the costs and economic aspects of theirindustrial production, and so far few studies have been done in this regard. In this paper, thecosts of raw materials, production process and finally the installation and commissioningof electricity generating systems based on polymeric solar cells has been estimated. Theresults show that despite the lower efficiency of solar energy conversion into electricalenergy in these systems, due to the adaptability of their manufacturing process withroll-to-roll printing, the cost is very low. Polymer solar cells also compete not only withcommercial products in this field, such as silicon-based solar cells, but also with otherelectricity generating systems, such as wind and water-based systems.