Platform-ZERO aims to reach zero defect manufacturing for the photovoltaic industry

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

Platform-ZERO addresses this challenge by developing a new customizable inline 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 operated by PV and PV-related industry partners in Spain, Germany, Austria and Poland. The pilot plants address smart coatings for photovoltaics, high-efficiency solar modules, and flexible solar films made from different 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, smaller carbon footprint, and high adaptability for advanced integrated applications that can provide additional functionalities compared to standard silicon. They are also well suited for manufacturing with high levels of automation and Industry 4.0 approaches.

RISC Software GmbH: Special Know-how in Data Engineering and AI Analysis

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

A multidisciplinary team of experts from academia and industry

The project has a total budget above 10M€ and will run for 4 years. The consortium is formed by 12 European partners and is coordinated by Victor Izquierdo, from the Solar Energy Materials and Systems group at IREC (Catalonia Institute for Energy Research). This includes four research centers and one university with a strong knowledge in the development of spectroscopic methodologies (IREC, HZB), imaging (AIT), device optoelectronic assessment (UPO), AI analysis (AIT, IREC, RISC) and data management (RISC). Additionally, the consortium includes two research centers with strong know-how in advanced PV technologies and with industrial pilot lines facilities to validate concepts (two demo-sites) based on high efficiency CIGS devices (ZSW) and smart nano-based surface processes and coatings (Lurederra). Finally, the consortium is complemented by a metrology SMEs with strong knowhow in the implementation of industrial process monitoring applications (LENZ) and by two third-generation PV manufacturing SMEs (SUNPLUGGED and SAULE), both providing their production lines for demonstrating the Platform-ZERO technology (two demo-sites). Additionally, two other SME partners, R2M Solution France and R2M Solution SRL Italy, are in charge of dissemination, exploitation and communication actions.

Project partners

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Project management

DI Paul Heinzlreiter

Senior Data Engineer