Commercial deployment of perovskites has traditionally been held back by their unproven durability compared to crystalline silicon. But the tide is changing, slowly.
In July 2025, Caelux completed the first commercial customer order shipment of its Active Glass technology, which will be used on a utility-scale project with a major developer. The project will combine Active Glass with a silicon solar module to create a hybrid tandem. Speaking to pv magazine, Aaron Thurlow, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Caelux, said he couldn’t offer further detail, but he did confirm more shipments will be made in the coming months.
Caelux claims its Active Glass technology is compatible with all mainstream silicon modules. The company states its tandem-enabled modules will enable up to 30% more power density, 20% more energy production, and up to 20% lower project costs. Its first mainstream commercial product will be Caelux One and its early-generation shipments are called Caelux Prime, although the underlying technology of both is broadly the same, said Thurlow.
These are made in the company’s 100 MW production capacity manufacturing facility in Baldwin Park, California. The R&D laboratory is next to the factory, which Thurlow said is convenient for scaling. “Trying to scale technology from lab to fab, you run into a myriad of challenges and learnings, so we think this is a really prudent step before we get into building gigawatt-scale fabs.”
Gigawatt goal
Gigawatt-scale production is also the goal for Swift Solar. From its base in San Carlos, California, the company’s CEO and co-founder, Joel Jean, told pv magazine it is targeting gigawatt-scale production by 2030, and is on track to build its first production line in the United States “in the next one to two years.”
“We have a pilot line making full-size prototypes of tandem perovskite cells and small modules which sets us up well for initial field tests and early commercial deployments,” said Jean. It will be at a higher price point, but the company is already seeing demand, even for smaller-scale production.
Swift Solar’s self-developed vapor deposition technology increases manufacturing speed, in turn lowering production costs. In late 2024, the company secured $27 million funding to scale up its technology.
World record
In Bedford, Massachusetts, CubicPV achieved a world-record efficiency of 24% for a perovskite mini solar module together with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The previous record was 23.9%.
Although the metal back-contact device design is not suitable for tandem modules, CubicPV Chief Technology Officer Adam Lorenz said it was helpful in terms of showcasing practical potential. “This was not a pixel achievement but a serial module, meaning the record performance was demonstrated on a larger area including cell interconnection within the device and industrially applicable packaging, much closer to real-world manufactured thin-film products. That distinction matters because serial, fully packaged modules reveal how the material behaves under realistic electrical, optical and mechanical conditions.”
The next step is to get durable modules into the field for monitoring and translating accelerated ageing tests to confident predictions of real-world performance, said Lorenz, adding that customers are focused on outdoor performance data and bankability.
Lorenz said that all CubicPV’s achievements to date prove that perovskite devices “are no longer just a laboratory effort.” He believes combining perovskite’s high efficiency with manufacturing-ready designs “undoubtedly moves the technology closer to the market and performance breakthroughs that the industry has been anticipating.”
He pointed out that CubicPV has also demonstrated results with NREL for devices that use transparent back contacts rather than a metal back contact and achieved over 23% efficiency – a “clear indication of our ability to realize a 30% tandem module with silicon,” he said.
What’s next?
Perovskite-silicon tandem efficiency is well-proven, according to Jean. “The key challenge for perovskites is stability and scalability,” he said, adding that silicon is reaching its efficiency ceiling. Perovskite-silicon tandems are “the next S-curve for the industry” but beyond that there is the possibility of triple-junctions or an all-perovskite tandem. Jean does not see all-perovskite tandems as likely in the near term.
Lorenz and Thurlow both agreed, with Thurlow claiming single-junction perovskite on its own is not going to compete with perovskite-silicon tandem, because silicon is so cost-effective. Silicon is needed to retain the balance between cost and efficiency. “It’s an economic equation.”
LCOE gains
Lorenz reckons the economic question will become more urgent given policy uncertainty in the United States. But he added the unsettlement does present an opportunity for a bullish industry to make gains. “Higher costs and supply chain uncertainty mean customers are placing increasing value on efficiency, lower systems costs and greater energy yield,” he said. Lorenz believes that the additional power offered by perovskite-enabled tandems can help to reduce overall project costs and unlock new siting opportunities, and that perovskites will be vital to navigating all this change.
Jean said strong support for domestic manufacturing and the reshoring of US supply chains inspire confidence, adding that the manufacturing tax credits remain strong.
“We can provide better economics for solar projects that are seeing headwinds,” he said of developer customers facing the removal of investment tax credits (ITC) for projects.
He added that a Swift Solar module could provide customers with 10% to 30% more power, reducing balance-of-system costs, bringing LCOE down and increasing their internal rate of return.
“It helps them bridge from an ITC world to a non ITC world, potentially, and we see a lot of interest from customers because of that.”
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