Perovskite is a relatively inexpensive material that has attracted thousands of researchers since 2009, when a team of scientists in Japan first demonstrated its use in solar cells. They achieved a solar energy conversion efficiency of little more than 3%, but since science loves a challenge, that was just the beginning of the story. In the latest chapter, the US firms Heliene and Caeulux have just introduced a new perovskite-enabled solar module that hits the jackpot at up to 27% efficiency, and it is already in commercial production, no less.
So far in the renewable energy transition, silicon has shouldered much of the heavy lifting due to its excellent solar conversion properties. Still, silicon is relatively expensive material that demands a complex manufacturing process. Perovskite is the reverse. Based on a naturally occurring mineral, synthetic perovskites can be lab-grown and applied to solar cell fabrication in a high volume, high throughput process similar to roll-to-roll manufacturing and other solution-based methods (see lots more perovskite background here).
There being no such thing as a free lunch, “raw” perovskite is challenged by natural conditions, namely, humidity. Tweaking the formula with other, more durable materials can resolve that problem. Researchers have also developed a tandem solution, in which a perovskite layer rests upon a silicon layer, providing an efficiency boost while minimizing the additional cost.
In the US solar market, the sticky wicket is the current state of federal energy, trade, and tax polices. Still, the red-hot demand for solar energy in the US has motivated solar stakeholders to steamroll over those obstacles, attracting overseas investors (here’s one example) as well as new domestic ventures.
On the domestic side, the Corning-backed manufacturer Heliene has been focusing on silicon while the startup Caelux has tackled the perovskite solar cell challenge with a glass substrate that can be layered onto other materials in a solar module. Now the two manufacturers have combined forces, with Caelux’s perovskite-doped glass boosting the conversion efficiency of Heliene’s N-type solar cells by up to 20%.
The Caelux-Heliene mashup comes at a time when Congress has finally put the wheels in motion to streamline the permitting process for energy projects. The two firms already have a running head start. On November 10, the two firms announced that commercial-scale production has already begun on their Hybrid-Tandem™ solar module
“Manufactured by Heliene in Minnesota, the perovskite plus silicon technology combines Caelux’s Energy Producing Glass with Heliene’s established silicon module platform to construct a solar module with two separate power generation layers that deliver higher power density,” Heliene explains.
“One of the advantages of Caelux’s technology is that we can integrate its Energy Producing Glass into our existing manufacturing lines without having to build an entirely new production setup,” added Martin Pochtaruk, Heliene CEO and Founder, in a press statement.
“With both companies manufacturing in the U.S., we’re bringing together two fully domestic supply chains to advance what’s possible with American-made solar,” Pochtaruk emphasized.
Stay tuned for the next development. The new modules are now in production at Heliene’s manufacturing facility Minnesota, with deliveries set for 2027. That’s just for starters. Caelux and Heliene have already targeted 29% efficiency and up for their next-generation modules.
The conversion efficiency improvement is the gift that keeps on giving. In the rooftop solar sector, for example, high-efficiency solar cells enable developers to squeeze more electricity out of a given space, making a rooftop array more economical for smaller properties that are otherwise shut out of the market. The cost of a smaller, more effcient array can also ripple downwards in the form of savings on labor, hardware, and transportation expenses.
For rooftop solar in general, the boost in efficiency provides an opportunity to take full advantage of power sharing programs with local utilities, which enable solar owners to earn revenue and qualify for time-of-use discounts. The benefits can ripple into home energy storage systems and home EV charging as well.
On a larger scale, the space-saving angle can help alleviate land use conflicts that otherwise stymie solar development, particularly in the area of farm-to-solar conversion.
Although real estate development is by far the primary factor driving the loss of farmland in the US, solar opponents (looking at you, Brooke Rollins) have played the farm card to gin up resistance to solar development in rural communities. With efficiency improvements, the economic case improves for solar arrays on marginal lands and smaller parcels. That can be partcularly helpful in the community solar field, where solar arrays are typically smaller.
Additionally, the improved efficiency can help accelerate the uptake of agrivoltaic practices that balance energy-producing solar panels with grazing and croplands. These dual-use arrays can enable farmers to continue working their land while guaranteeing a revenue stream from the solar developer.
Furthermore, high-efficiency solar opens up new opportunities in the field of floating solar, where developers can make use of reservoirs and other human-engineered bodies of water instead of taking up space on land. By taking up less room on water for the same power generation capacity, floating solar can also squeeze into reservoirs where recreation and habitat conservation also compete for space.
Perovskite solar cells represent just one key breakthrough area in the US solar industry. Easing the federal energy permitting bottleneck is another. That can be a two-edged sword, enabling more fossil energy resources to flow through the pipeline. However, permitting reform could also prevent the fossil energy industry from running amok through federal energy policy.
Members of Congress are currently negotiating over the particulars of Senate Bill 5653, aka the “Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act. If enacted as envisioned by the solar industry, the reforms will put a crimp in Trump’s “American Energy Dominance” policy, which has placed new and burdensome restrictions on both wind and solar activity in the US while aggressively supporting fossil fuels and nuclear, alongside other renewables including biomass, geothermal, hydropower. Even energy storage has come in for a share of love from the Trump administration, further underscoring the remarkable exclusion of wind and solar from federal energy policy.
The trade organization Solar Energy Industries Association, for one, is urging members on both sides of the aisle to ensure that permitting reform focuses on fairness, predictability, and certainty. In a letter to the House and Senate, SEIA emphasizes that solar and storage developers “cannot finance multi-year, capital-intensive projects without the predictability and certainty needed to build projects and connect them to the grid.”
“According to researchers at Wood Mackenzie, solar and storage represent 70% of the new capacity added to the grid thus far in 2026. Yet $120 billion in clean energy investment is caught up in current permitting delays, let alone the impact of permitting challenges to future deployment,” SEIA adds.
Of course, even if such a bill passes both Houses of Congress, US President Donald Trump could exercise his veto power, and he has already threatened to make copious use of it during his last two years in office. Nevertheless, US Presidents come and go, and this one is scheduled to go in January of 2029 — peacefully this time, one hopes.
Image: The US perovskite solar cell specialist Caelux is combining with the startup Heliene to manufacture high efficiency perovskite-silicon modules in the US (cropped courtesy of Caelux).
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Tina has been covering advanced energy technology, military sustainability, emerging materials, biofuels, ESG and related policy and political matters for CleanTechnica since 2009. Follow her @tinamcasey on LinkedIn, Mastodon or Bluesky.
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