Objective 3
Digitalisation of Photovoltaics
Today’s modern PV factories produce several gigawatts of wafers, solar cells and modules every year, and the trend is rising sharply. This equates to about one billion solar cells produced annually per factory.
The advent of new digital technologies such as Big Data, robotics and block- chain allows for the emergence of entirely new solar business models and for the improvement of existing models, making them more profitable. Moreover, digital technologies can be used to reduce costs and increase performance at al- most every point of the solar value chain, from cell and module manufacturing to Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of PV power plants.
This objective aims at introducing digital technologies to reduce cost and in- crease the quality of PV value chain manufacturing (roadmap 6), to increase en- ergy yield, and to make PV technology suited for all emerging new applications and a dependable component of the energy system of the future (roadmap 7).