A word from ACAP's Executive Director, with the release of our 2024 Annual Report

Professor Renate Egan provides an update and outlook for the new solar PV technologies being developed by the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovolatics, in this extract from the newly released ACAP Annual Report 2024.

Solar photovoltaics (PV) is now the fastest growing source of new energy generation, with early estimates of over 600 GW installed worldwide in 2024 and experts predicting 1000 GW, or Terawatt (TW), annual markets well before 2030.

Today, electricity from PV is competitive with residential and commercial electricity pricing at the point of use (on rooftops). Continued development to deliver ultra-low-cost solar PV is positioned to transform our energy system, industries, transport and the way we live.

In Australia, another 4 GW of solar was installed in 2024, resulting in a total of more than 38 GW of solar installed, retaining Australia’s global leadership in installed solar per capita.

ACAP's Annual Report 2024 is now published.

As a result, close to 20% of the total electricity demand on the National Electricity Market was met by solar PV in 2024. With wind and hydro, Australia is now meeting over 40% of its electricity needs from renewables.

The technology of today works, and we should be deploying it as quickly as we can; in doing so, we will continue to learn and improve. At the same time, to drive the zero-emissions economy of the future, that will see Australia as a renewable energy superpower, we need to push solar technologies even further and the costs even lower.

In 2022, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) laid out its vision for Ultra Low Cost Solar in a White Paper [ARENA, 2023]. ARENA’s ambition is to see the cost of electricity from solar at less than $20/MWhr, opening vast opportunities in green industrial processing, such as green steel and green ammonia. To achieve these targets, the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) was extended out to 2030. Now known as ACAP2.0, activities are co-funded by ARENA, UNSW, partner universities, research institutions and industry, with more than 250 Australian researchers already working to achieve the ultra-low-cost solar goals.

The program of work under ACAP2.0 was renewed to reflect the ultra-low cost solar goals and Australia’s ambition to be a renewable energy superpower. Objectives and tasks include:

• Deliver an improvement in cell efficiency to over 30%, beyond what is possible with silicon alone.

• Deliver high efficiency tandem solar cells.

• Ensure emerging solar cell technologies are reliable and durable.

• Drive down the cost, working with industry on scaling up innovation.

• Ensure we can scale sustainably with a focus on Earth-abundant materials and addressing reuse and recycling.

• Accelerate the transition, by providing high quality training opportunities and by sharing knowledge with energy consumers, industry and policymakers.
  

This 2024 Annual Report surveys progress and key developments during the year, summarised in the highlight pages and detailed in the chapters that follow.

ACAP maintains Australia's leadership position in research into solar energy

Together we’ve delivered quality and impactful research outcomes, including new efficiency records and benchmarks, such that at the end of 2024, the ACAP group ranks first, ahead of 100 international academic institutions, for quality and meaningful impact in the area of “Photovoltaics”, as rated by ScholarGPS [https://scholargps.com/].

The ACAP group ranks first, ahead of 100 international academic institutions, for quality and meaningful impact in the area of “Photovoltaics”, as rated by ScholarGPS.

The team at ACAP has attracted the interest of several industry partners in joining the ACAP Industry Consortium; signed up two major industry players in multi-million dollar research contracts, and contributed to leading industry reports and policy papers on solar PV and on storage and electrification. These include the Silicon to Solar report that informed the Australian Government’s Solar Sunshot initiative as part of the Future Made in Australia plan.

And, in a long tradition of national and international recognition, in 2024 two ACAP leaders were recognised with national awards and fellowships with the Australian Academy of Science and ATSE.

ARENA

The outstanding work reported under ACAP is made possible through the vision and commitment within ARENA, that reflects the benefit of long-term investment in research. ARENA contributes through the funding for the research program plus formally and informally through participation in the research direction, industry partnerships, knowledge sharing and program governance. This support by ARENA, backed by UNSW and our research and industry partners, makes the outstanding research reported here possible.

The 2024 Annual Report captures a significant effort from all ACAP researchers in their contributions to the broad range of progress reported.

Of note, in 2024, the ACAP Technical Program Group was formed. This group coordinates the technology planning and reporting across the program. In its inaugural year, the program area leaders included Professor Dan Macdonald (ANU), Dr Anthony Chesman (CSIRO), Professor Klaus Weber (ANU), Professor Bram Hoex (UNSW) and Dr Nathan Chang (UNSW). Together we’ve made some real and positive changes in how we collaborate on the ACAP Program, through workshops and community building and in reporting and knowledge sharing. I look forward to this continuing in 2025, taking on some lessons learned from our first year.

Importantly, I would like to recognise the contributions of Dr Richard Corkish, ACAP’s Chief Operation Officer, who is retiring. His coordination of the ACAP partnership group and his diligence and attention to detail have been critical to the consistent success and delivery of the ACAP program. I’m pleased also to introduce Mariana Salgueiro who joined ACAP as Operations Manager in 2024 and worked alongside Richard over 2024 for a seamless hand-over. I look forward to working with her on continuing to deliver the ACAP program.

Finally, I am pleased to be able to report that ACAP has taken another major step towards attaining its significant long-term objective of delivering ultra-low-cost solar, by achieving its milestones, on time and within budget. I look forward to seeing similar progress in 2025 and subsequent years as we deliver on our ultra-low cost solar targets.

Professor Renate Egan

Executive Director, Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics

Please view the report at https://www.acap.org.au/post/annual-reports