The 11th Slovenian Photovoltaic Conference SLO-PV 2025

March 23 2025

The Laboratory for Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics and the Slovenian Technological Platform for Photovoltaics are organizing the 11^th Slovenian Photovoltaic Conference SLO-PV 2025, which will take place on Wednesday, 18 June 2025 at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Tržaška cesta 25 in Ljubljana.

At the conference, lecturers will highlight current topics in the field of photovoltaics in Slovenia. Parallel to the conference, an exhibition will be held, where companies offering products and services in the field of photovoltaics and sustainable energy will present their portfoilo. Thanks to the sponsors, participation in the conference is free of charge.

You are cordially invited!

Seminar at NREL by Prof. Marko Topič

February 18 2025

Prof. dr. Marko Topič gave a Seminar at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) entitled PV Materials and Devices in Energy Transition – interplay of performance, cost and stability.

In the seminar, prof. Topič first reviewed the fascinating photovoltaic (PV) technology’s modularity and continuous cost reductions that path a way solar PV to become the largest source of electricity worldwide. Although with already proven economic and environmental competitiveness, PV is successfully addressing further challenges in science, engineering and technology as well as in materials and devices to fit everywhere. Latest R&D activities in silicon and perovskite photovoltaics globally were presented with a contribution from the Laboratory for Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (LPVO).

Start of the ShinePV Project

January 1 2025

In January, LPVO began participating in the international Horizon Europe project ShinePV. The ShinePV consortium includes 17 partners from 10 European countries. The project is led by the Irish and the Italian branch of Applied Materials, a corporation that supplies equipment, services and software for the production of semiconductor chips for a wide range of electronics, including solar cells.

ShinePV will develop alternative technological routes to PV production for Silicon Heterojunction (SHJ) and Tunnel Oxide Passivared Contact (TOPCon) solar cells, covering the three key steps in the back-end manufacturing: metallization, post-processing and interconnection. The goal of the project is to reinforce the sustainability of the European PV value chain building a secure, resilient, and diverse domestic energy sector industrial base.

Holiday Wish

December 19 2024

The year 2024 is rushing towards its end. But before the end, the holidays await us. May they pass peacefully, use them to socialize with loved ones and rest.

In the new year 2025, we wish you abundant success in overcoming challenges, may any problems and annoyances be effectively reduced, and may renewable moments of happiness and satisfaction grow and be enjoyed.

Happy New Year!

LPVO at EU-PVSEC 2024

September 17 2024

Between September 23 and 27, we will attend the largest photovoltaic conference, EU-PVSEC in Vienna. This year too, we will be present in two roles, namely the scientific part and the fair part. We will present our results in eight contributions. At the fair, we will present our solutions for monitoring, characterization and aging of photovoltaic modules and solar cells

Scientific contributions:

• 4AO.8.6, Žiga Miklič, Towards Higher Efficiency: Data Analysis and Optimization of PV String Wiring in a Long-Running Solar Power Plant
• 3AV.3.25, Kristijan Brecl, Accurate Energy Performance Model for Bifacial PV Modules
• 2BV.1.39, Matija Pirc, Perovskite Solar Cell Light-Soaking and Relaxation Modelling for Improved Energy Yield Predictions in Indoor Environments
• 2CO.2.5, Miha Kikelj, Characterisation of Degradation Pathways of 3-Terminal Perovskite-Silicon Tandems After Outdoor Monitoring
• 2CV.3.17, Kristijan Brecl, Potential Induced Degradation Free Perovskite-Silicon Tandem Solar Cells
• 2CV.3.18, Špela Tomšič, Experimental Analysis and Modelling of Metastability Behavior in Perovskite-based Solar Cells for Accurate Energy Yield Estimation in Real-world Operating Conditions
• 2CV.3.38, Žan Ajdič, Al₂O₃ Capping Layer for Improved Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells
• 5DV.3.43, Matevž Bokalič, Challenges of Energy Communities at Universities – A Virtual Approach

Exhibition booth E1.

Above list in PDF.

We look forward to meeting you in Vienna!

Presentation of the starting points of the planned Čip.si Competence Center

September 12 2024

Today the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana hosted a presentation of the starting points of the planned Competence Center for Chips and Semiconductor Technologies - Čip.si. The event was intended primarily for representatives of companies, as future users of the center's services. The partners of the project consortium are: FE UL in the role of coordinator, FRI UL, FERI UM, UNG, IJS and Nanocenter. The project is in the phase of application to the European tender. The competence center will strive for the development of chips and semiconductor technologies in Slovenia and Europe through training, promotion of the field and networking.

Lecture at Stanfrod University by Marko Topič

June 5 2024

Prof. dr. Marko Topič gave a Lecture at the Stanford University entitled Photovoltaics towards multi-Terawatt scale – PV Materials and Devices in Energy Transition.

In the lecture, prof. Topič first explained the crucial importance of decarbonizing the energy system, which can be achieved by using renewable resources: sun, wind and water. Photovoltaics exceeded 1.5 TW of installed power last year and will play a key role in the future. In the light of further development and research challenges, he presented the role of the Laboratory for Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (LPVO).

Pepperoni Project Meeting

May 16 2024

The Laboratory of Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (LPVO) of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering UL will be hosting a General Assembly meeting of the international project Pepperoni from May 23 to 24 2024.

The goal of the Pepperoni project is to support Europe in reaching its renewable energy targets, by advancing perovskite/silicon tandem photovoltaics (PV) technology towards the market introduction and mass manufacturing.

The project will identify and address the barriers to tandem solar technology’s market introduction. And ultimately lay the foundations for fast implementation of new production capacity in Europe as a cost-effective and resource-efficient solution to decarbonise the energy system.

A pilot line enabling this development will be established in Thalheim, Germany with the long-term vision of enabling European industrial leadership on PV production in the global market.

Aurora Project Meeting

May 16 2024

The Laboratory of Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (LPVO) of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering UL will be hosting a General Assembly meeting of the international project Aurora from May 21 to 22 2024.

The aim of the project is to provoke bottom up approaches to mitigate climate change. We have established a Student Energy Club (ŠEK) that organizes workshops, field visits of renewable power installations and brings together students on energy related matters. We are developing a demonstrator photovoltaic power plant on the roofs of our Faculty to provide first hand experience with photovoltaics. And finally, the project provided the Aurora Energy Tracker app, which users can use to track their energy consumption  and carbon dioxide emissions.

Paper in Journal Advanced Energy Materials

May 9 2024

LPVO members, in cooperation with the German Institute HZB, published an important scientific article in the prestigious scientific journal Advanced Energy Materials. The first authors were Špela Tomšič (LPVO) and Marko Remec (HZB), both doctoral students in the final phase of their doctoral training.

The article entitled From sunrise to sunset: Unraveling metastability in perovskite solar cells by coupled outdoor testing and energy yield modeling presents an innovative methodology that combines experimental characterization of perovskite solar cells under realistic operating conditions with advanced numerical modeling of energy yield. The methodology opens the door to a completely new insight into the dynamics of the operation of this type of solar cell, which, among other things, enables the identification of various hitherto hidden loss mechanisms and the assessment of their effects during the lifetime of the device. All this is crucial for the further development and commercialization of perovskite photovoltaic technology.

Paper in Journal Joule

February 22 2024

Members of the LPVO  in collaboration with the Swiss institute CSEM and the manufacturer MeyerBurger with assistant Miha Kikelj as the first author, have published an article in the prestigious scientific journal Joule.

The article entitled Do all good things really come in threes? The true potential of 3-terminal perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell strings discusses tandem perovskite-silicon solar cells. Specifically, it addresses the efficiency of various sub-cell connections and demonstrates that by utilizing the three-terminal architecture and proper inter-connection, a higher energy yield can be achieved compared to the conventional series connection of two-terminal architecture cells.

uTP4Q Project Meeting

January 27 2024

The Laboratory of Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (LPVO) of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering UL organised a meeting of the international project Quantera uTP4Q from 25 to 26 January 2024.

The aim of the project is to develop efficient quantum photonic integrated circuits that can be fabricated using the method of micro-transfer printing. In addition to the system for automatic characterisation of photonic integrated circuits at LPVO, the partners of the project visited the clean rooms of the Microelectronics Laboratory and the optical part of the Radiation and Optics Laboratory of our Faculty.

The 10th Slovenian Photovoltaic Conference SLO-PV 2024 and Workshop EuroReg-PV 2024

January 24 2024

The Laboratory for Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics and the Slovenian Technological Platform for Photovoltaics are organizing the 10^th Slovenian Photovoltaic Conference SLO-PV 2024, which will take place on Wednesday, 19 June 2024 at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Tržaška cesta 25 in Ljubljana.

The EuroReg-PV 2024 workshop will be held in the days after the SLO-PV 2024 conference from 20 to 21 June 2024 at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in our organization. You are cordially invited to submit abstracts.