Results of a recent photovoltaic energy life cycle study are presented. The focus lies on the energy payback time (EPBT) and the CO 2 emission rate achievable with state‐of‐the‐art industrial production chains for conventional monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon modules. The data have been provided by European manufacturers and represent the processes in their European—primarily German—production sites. The analysis covers all steps from metal grade silicon refinement down to assembled modules as shipped to the customer. Balance of system contributions have not been included in the analysis and in the result figures, both for EPBT and CO 2 emissions. The resulting EPBT values for the modules only are 1.09 and 0.93 years for monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon, respectively, both under southern European conditions. CO 2 emission rates strongly depend on the scenario considered, ranging from 18 g/kWh in southern Europe to 60 g/kWh in northern Germany under worst‐case conditions for useful lifetime and degradation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Results of a recent photovoltaic energy life cycle study are presented. The focus lies on the energy payback time and the CO2 emission rate achievable with state‐of‐the‐art industrial production chains for conventional monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon modules. The data have been provided by European manufacturers and represent the processes in their European—primarily German—production sites.


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    Title :

    Update of energy payback time and greenhouse gas emission data for crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules



    Published in:

    Progress in photovoltaics ; 23 , 10 ; 1429-1435


    Publication date :

    2015




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English



    Classification :

    BKL:    53.36 Energiedirektumwandler, elektrische Energiespeicher