Abstract
Solar photovoltaics (PV) is entering a new era of multi-terawatt deployment, with 2 TW already in service and more than 75 TW predicted in many scenarios by 2050. This next era has been enabled by over five decades of cumulative advances in PV module cost reduction, performance and reliability. The current scale of deployment also introduces new needs, opportunities and challenges. In this Perspective we frame a path forwards based on learning, broadly defined as a combination of expansion of knowledge and advances through research and development, experience and collaboration. We discuss historical topics where learning has driven PV deployment until now, and emerging areas that are required to sustain high levels of future deployment. We expect progress to continue in terms of module price, performance and reliability, driven by advances in PV cell and module design, the emergence of tandem devices and increased focus on extending module lifetimes. Large-scale deployment also means large-scale sustainability and responsibility. We therefore posit that additional metrics, such as the impact on global CO2 emissions, resource consumption and design for reuse and recycling, will become increasingly important to the PV industry and provide opportunities for further learning.
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Acknowledgements
This Perspective was informed by the 4th Terawatt Workshop that was convened in Pacific Grove, California, USA on 6–8 June 2024. This work was authored in part by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the US Department of Energy (DOE) under contract no. DE-AC36-08GO28308. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the US Government. The US Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for US Government purposes. The views expressed are also based on the current information available to the authors and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official or policy position of the European Commission.
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We declare employment-based competing interests for the following: A.K. is the President of AGC Business Development Americas; AGC is a glass, materials and chemical manufacturer. C.C. is the Chief Scientist at Oxford PV, a perovskite PV solar technology company. Y.C. is Vice President of Technology for Trina Solar, a PV and energy company. A.F. is the Chief Technology Officer of SOLARWATT, a full-service provider of integrated solar systems. S.G. is Vice President of Renewable Energies and Strategic Partnerships for VON ARDENNE GmbH, a company that manufactures vacuum coating systems and processes for industrial applications. M.G. is the Chief Technology Officer at First Solar, a producer of thin-film PV systems. E.H. is a senior consultant at Swiss RE, a commercial insurance provider. B.H. is the Head of Advanced Research at First Solar. J.J. is CEO and co-founder of Swift Solar, a US company focused on perovskite tandem solar technology. S.J. is R&D manager of the North American Thin Film Technology Team at NSG Group, a manufacturer of glass and glazing products. I.K. is Director and Principal Analyst at RTS Corporation, which is a PV industry and marketing consulting company. M. Kulkarni is Chairman and CEO of Renaissance Solar and Electronic Materials, a solar crystal growth and wafer manufacturing company. D. Merfeld is the Global Chief Technology Officer for Hanwha Qcells, a company focused on energy solutions from solar cells to power plants. N.K. is an employee of the Sustainable Management Initiatives Group at AGC. S.N. is with JERA Americas, an energy infrastructure company focused on low-carbon systems. J.P. is Vice President of Business Development at NexWafe, a company focused on next-generation PV wafer production. G.R. is co-founder and technical director at OFGEN, a distributed renewable energy company in Africa. D.R. is VP Technology Strategy of Maxeon Solar Technologies, a business focused on high-efficiency solar panels. R. Sinton is President and Senior Scientist of Sinton Instruments with an equity stake. Sinton Instruments manufactures test and measurement equipment for R&D and manufacturing in the PV industry. K. Soni is the Technology Assessment Director, Exploratory Markets and Technologies at Corning, Inc., which is a materials and manufacturing company focused on glass and ceramics. D.S. is the CEO of NexWafe. K.W. was formerly a Project Manager at bifa Umweltinstitut GmbH, which is an environmental research, development and consulting institute.
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Alberi, K., Peters, I.M., Verlinden, P. et al. Historical and future learning for the new era of multi-terawatt photovoltaics. Nat Energy 11, 38–46 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01929-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01929-z
