Societies with ambitious programs on renewable energies and seeking carbon neutral energy mixes (e.g. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, Iceland, Portugal) besides the development of sustainable solutions for photovoltaic (PV) energy conversion, are seeking a variety of energy storage concepts to deal with the high variability and intermittence of renewable energies, and corresponding supply-demand gaps. This includes electrolysis to store peak electricity by generation of hydrogen, and integration of temporary or local excess of renewable electricity with other locally available energy resources (e.g. forest-based biomass in Sweden, manure from animal farming in Denmark, biogas everywhere). Portugal (Centro) also possesses unique conditions for such integration of photovoltaic and other renewable energy sources (eolic, hydroelectric and biomass). In addition to its first rank in eolic generation (>50%), the Centro region displays the 2nd highest indicator in terms of hours equivalent for photovoltaic production, and possesses an enormous biomass potential from forests.
The objective of this integrated program is the development of sustainable solutions for PV energy conversion, including new solar cells based on non-critical materials with low toxicity. The project also addresses the variability and the intermittence of the solar energy through the transformation of green electricity in hydrogen and the energy efficiency and environmental performance of the proposed solutions will be evaluated through life-cycle analysis (LCA).