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Published on: 11/5/2007
Last Visited: 11/5/2007
Dr Mark Williamson: 'Solar PV works, even in a country like the UK'
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"Solar PV works," says Dr Mark Williamson, Director of Innovations at the Carbon Trust, "even in a country like the UK where we don't have a great amount of sun.But to date the use of PV has generally been limited to niche applications, due to the high capital costs."
Dr Williamson adds: "What's so exciting about this new organic PV project is that we are backing a technology that's radically different and could actually give us - within a decade - products capable of supplying renewable electricity at costs equivalent to the standard prices we pay for our household electricity.
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As Dr Williamson notes wryly, the journey from an early stage technical concept to a proven commercial product can be long and arduous."Promising innovations often need support to cross the 'valley of death' between publicly funded research and commercial investment from the private sector".He adds: "You don't just need the right technology; you also need to form a credible business with a team capable of exploiting the idea and targeting a market with significant growth potential.
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"The first step is to get a cell that is reliable, efficient, cheap and capable of mass production," says Dr Williamson."Then you can put it pretty much anywhere."
And the prize is huge.With organic PV the Carbon Trust's aim is to deliver 1GW (giga watt) of installed capacity by 2017, which in turn could lead to carbon emissions savings of more than one million tonnes a year.What is more, the Carbon Trust hopes the £5m R&D programme will help the UK take a lead in the global organic PV market, creating products with significant export potential.
Dr Williamson adds: "We see our role as a catalyst to something that probably would have happened anyway.