Pietro Altermatt (51min)

Trina Solar

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Abstract

This talk takes a journey across three scales of photovoltaic research and industry. Starting at the device level, we examine how passivating contacts work and where the remaining efficiency gains in silicon TOPCon production are — and why they are becoming increasingly uneconomical. We then zoom out to the methods: how should data from two different experiments be compared? This is important in the lab and in comparing two different mass production lines. Finally, we take a bird's-eye view of the PV industry, mapping manufacturing productivity across the Chinese supply chain and revealing a perhaps surprising finding: for every manufacturing job in China, three to five jobs are created downstream in importing countries — yet sluggish climate action threatens to leave that potential untapped. The talk concludes by estimating, from past growth, how much PV production there may be outside China in coming years.

Brief Bio

Prof Pietro Peter Altermatt is a principal scientist at Trina Solar and holds a visiting professorship at the University of Oxford in the UK. He began his photovoltaics research career at the University of New South Wales in the early 1990s, where he contributed to world record-breaking silicon solar cell efficiencies, including the still-unmatched PERC cell performance. Altermatt's expertise spans device modeling, materials science, and industrial technology diffusion. He has held prestigious fellowships, including an Australian QE2 Fellowship, and maintains active roles in both academic research and industrial development. His current work focuses on scaling photovoltaics for global decarbonization and advancing next-generation cell technologies.