Just a few years ago, low cost natural gas was the main force pushing coal out of the power generation market, and now low cost solar power is sneaking up on low cost natural gas. So far the competition is a trickle, not a flood. However, natural gas stakeholders don’t have much breathing room left, as indicated by the latest perovskite solar cell research.

Why A Perovskite Solar Cell?

The cost of solar power has already fallen off a cliff, primarily due to improvements in silicon solar cell technology and manufacturing, as well as improvements all up and down the silicon solar cell value chain. That’s why energy stakeholders in some US markets are already eyeballing solar power and hybrid wind-solar configurations as more economical alternatives to natural gas.

To push the transition faster, solar costs have to drop even farther, faster. That means finding a material that is more economical to work with than silicon, and that’s where the perovskite solar cell comes […]