20/03/2023
In todayβs world, the importance of renewable and alternate energy sources cannot be subsided. With burgeoning energy demands of the ever-growing population, it has become necessary to find alternate sources of energy. On the other hand, the prevalent global warming regime demands that new energy sources must be clean and green for the environment. In such a situation, solar power has become a novel source of electricity generation as solar-based energy production has minimal environmental impact. As novel as solar PV sounds, it can prove to be a boom for an energy stricken country like Pakistan. The government of Pakistan has shown keen interest in the promotion of solar energy as indicated in Pakistan renewable energy policy 2019. As per the policy, Pakistan intends to generate 30% of its total electricity demand through renewable energy resource viz. solar and wind power. As per estimates, 12000 MW of energy will be injected into the system through solar PV by 2030. Moreover, keeping in view the fact that Pakistan receives abundant sunlight, the importance of solar energy cannot be negated and the government also seems interested in this regard.
The inclination of government to boost solar energy can be judged from the fact that with the help of KP government (HED Department), Third generation (Perovskite) solar prototyping lab has been established at UET Peshawar. The purpose of this project is to manufacture perovskite solar module for the first time in Pakistan. Ever since the inception of solar PV, PV technology has evolved and improved manifold. Conventional PV technology uses silicon as light absorbing layer. These panels are fabricated through an energy intensive process which is very costly. Third generation solar lab intends to cut down the cost of solar fabricating process and make it very easy by fabricating perovskite solar cell which offers a promising future of an alternate to conventional silicon PV. Till date the prototyping lab has successfully hired highly qualified technical and management team. Furthermore, the project has also successfully procured, commissioned and installed all the necessary equipment for the fabrication of perovskite solar module. The technical staff has also received training for the state of the art equipment procured. A milestone was achieved when the team for the first time fabricated locally perovskite solar module. The lab has forecasted the cost of perovskite solar module for as low as PKR 20/Watt while on the other hand, the conventional silicon solar module costs around PKR 50/Watt.
