Swiss Photovoltaics
Research & Technology
Swiss Photovoltaics
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Photovoltaic Projects in Switzerland: Overview




In Switzerland, 82 research, pilot and demo projects are currently ongoing in various thematic areas of photovoltaics.



Thematic breakdown of the 82 running photovoltaics research projects in Switzerland (klick on the pie chart to list the corresponding projects.)

 
  • Crystalline silicon (9.0 %)
  • Amorphous silicon (0.0 %)
  • CIGS  (0.9 %)
  • Tandem cells (7.2 %)
  • Other cell technology (19.8 %)
  • PV modules (2.7 %)
  • BIPV (8.1 %)
  • Module testing (11.7 %)
  • Inverters (0.9 %)
  • Grid integration (4.5 %)
  • Mounting (5.4 %)
  • Solar forecast (4.5 %)
  • Life cycle analysis  (3.6 %)
  • Others (20.7 %)
  • not classified (0.9 %)
 

The percentages in this graph refer to the number of projects in a specific thematic area compared to the total number of ongoing projects. Currently, there are 41 projects (50.0 %) in the field of «solar cell technology», 12 projects (14.6 %) in the field of «modules and building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)», 25 projects (30.5 %) in the field of «system technology», and 32 projects (39.0 %) in the field of «other (LCA, solar resources...)».


Thematic breakdown of ongoing photovoltaic projects in Switzerland weighted with the level of funding (klick on the pie chart to list the corresponding projects.)

 
  • Crystalline silicon (17.8 %)
  • Amorphous silicon (0.0 %)
  • CIGS  (0.5 %)
  • Tandem cells (6.7 %)
  • Other cell technology (26.4 %)
  • PV modules (1.9 %)
  • BIPV (8.5 %)
  • Module testing (5.2 %)
  • Inverters (0.6 %)
  • Grid integration (6.4 %)
  • Mounting (2.5 %)
  • Solar forecast (2.4 %)
  • Life cycle analysis  (2.9 %)
  • Others (18.3 %)
 

The total amount of funding for these 82 ongoing projects is 26.5 million Swiss francs (projected for one year). This figure is somewhat smaller than the average of the reported research funds for photovoltaics in recent years from the SFOE's official energy research statistics, since this figure also includes the overhead costs of the universities and administrative costs for research funding. The percentages in this graph refer to the number of projects in a specific thematic area compared to the total number of ongoing projects. In the area of «solar cell technology» roughly 13.6 million Swiss francs (51.3 %), in the area of «modules and building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)» roughly 2.7 million Swiss francs (10.4 %), in the area of «system technology» roughly 3.9 million Swiss francs (14.7 %), and in the area of «other (LCA, solar resources...)» roughly 6.2 million Swiss francs (23.6 %) are spent on current subsidies.

Origin of public funding for photovoltaics research and development in Switzerland: In total 40.41 million Swiss francs per year (figures 2023, source: SFOE). klick on the pie chart to list the corresponding projects.

 
  • SFOE (9.6 %)
  • OTHER (0.1 %)
  • INNO (6.1 %)
  • KANT (7.0 %)
  • ETH (33.5 %)
  • EU (5.1 %)
  • SERI (30.0 %)
  • SNSF (8.7 %)
  • ENSI (0.0 %)
 
SFOE: Swiss Federal Office of Energy, OTHER: Others, INNO: Innosuisse, KANT: Cantons, ETH: ETH Domain, EU: European Commission, SERI: State Secretariat for Education, SNSF: Swiss National Science Foundation, ENSI: Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate

Distribution of efforts for research and development in photovoltaics within Switzerland: Expenditure for research and development in the field of photovoltaics at Swiss universities in 2023. Considered are annual expenditures of more than CHF 250k (Source: SFOE). klick on the pie chart to list the corresponding projects.

 
  • ETHZ (1.9 %)
  • EPFL (29.7 %)
  • EMPA (30.6 %)
  • UNIBE (1.3 %)
  • UNIFR (2.7 %)
  • BFH (0.9 %)
  • SUPSI (4.9 %)
  • CSEM (28.1 %)
 
ETHZ: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, EPFL: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, EMPA: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, UNIBE: University of Bern, UNIFR: University of Fribourg, BFH: Bern University of Applied Sciences, SUPSI: University of Applied Sciences of Italian Switzerland, CSEM: Centre suisse d’éléctronique et de microtechnique