Monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic technology is being replaced
Monocrystalline silicon panels dominate the market with commercial efficiencies of 22-24%, but alternative technologies such as bifacials, heterojunction (HJT), and emerging perovskite cells are gaining ground in specific applications. Polycrystalline: During production, silicon crystals are melted and poured into square molds to cool, forming ingots composed of multiple crystals, which are then cut into wafers. The process is relatively simple, consumes less energy, and comes with lower manufacturing costs. Photovoltaics is a fast-growing market: The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of cumulative PV installations was about 27% between the years 2014 and 2024. Modules based on c-Si cells account for more than 90% of the photovoltaic capacity installed worldwide, which is why the analysis in this paper focusses on this cell type. The two dominant semiconductor materials used in photovoltaics are monocrystalline silicon—a uniform crystal structure—and large-grained polycrystalline silicon—a heterogeneous composition of crystal grains (Fig.
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