EU project Platform-ZERO: Zero-defect production for photovoltaics

The latest generation of PV technologies combines high performance with great flexibility for integration into buildings, vehicles, agricultural power plants and Internet-of-Things devices. However, their high complexity makes them susceptible to the occurrence of critical defects with only minor deviations from the standard manufacturing conditions, which leads to considerable production waste.

Platform-ZERO addresses this challenge by developing a new customizable in-line process monitoring platform supported by Artificial Intelligence to achieve zero-defect manufacturing in the third-generation PV industry and enable early detection, correction and/or prevention of pre-critical production defects. The strategy is being tested in four pilot plants by PV and PV-related industry partners in Spain, Germany, Austria and Poland. The pilot plants deal with intelligent coatings for photovoltaics, highly efficient solar modules and flexible solar films made from various photovoltaic materials and processes.

The photovoltaic materials and devices in this project will not be based on standard silicon, but on so-called third-generation PV technologies. These materials, such as CIGS or perovskites, offer higher efficiency, lower cost, a smaller carbon footprint and high adaptability for advanced integrated applications that can provide additional functionalities compared to standard silicon. They are also well suited to production with a high degree of automation and Industry 4.0 approaches.

RISC Software GmbH: Special know-how in the field of data engineering and AI analysis

RISC Software GmbH will take over the management of the work package WP4 “Data Management and Control Unit Development”. She will contribute her expertise in data cleansing and integration, mathematical hybrid modeling of manufacturing processes and the development of user-friendly process control software. This includes the collection, integration and processing of sensor data, the training of machine learning models for the inline control of the solar cell production process and the development of process control software for the machine operator.

A multidisciplinary team of experts from science and industry

The project has a total budget of over €10 million and will run for four years. The consortium consists of 12 European partners and is coordinated by Victor Izquierdo from the Solar Energy Materials and Systems Group at IREC (Catalan Institute for Energy Research). This includes four research centers and one university with profound knowledge in the development of spectroscopic methods (IREC, HZB), imaging (AIT), evaluation of optoelectronic devices (UPO), AI analysis (AIT, IREC, RISC) and data management (RISC). In addition, the consortium includes two research centers with extensive expertise in advanced PV technologies and with industrial pilot lines to validate concepts (two demo sites) based on high-efficiency CIGS devices (ZSW) and smart nano-based surface processes and coatings (Lurederra). The consortium is complemented by an SME from the field of measurement technology, which has extensive know-how in the implementation of applications for industrial process monitoring (LENZ), and by two SMEs from the field of third-generation PV production (SUNPLUGGED and SAULE), both of which are making their production lines available for the demonstration of the ZERO platform technology (two demo sites). In addition, two other SME partners, R2M Solution France and R2M Solution SRL Italy, are responsible for dissemination, utilization and communication measures.

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DI Paul Heinzlreiter

Senior Data Engineer