Swift Solar, a startup with roots in the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), recently demonstrated that the company’s novel solar technology is ready for commercial release. The demonstration occurred during a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) exercise testing a transportable microgrid designed for rapid deployment during natural catastrophes as well as in battlefield situations. Swift Solar’s novel perovskite tandem solar cells were integrated within the transportable microgrid being tested, and they successfully provided clean energy alongside two other power sources.
The DoD’s Cyber Fortress exercise, held in Virginia Beach, VA, tested the Rapid Deployment Hybrid MicroGrid, which was developed by Resilient Energy & Infrastructure. The exercise marked the first demonstration of Swift Solar’s U.S.-manufactured perovskite tandem solar technology and confirmed its potential to support energy resilience for national defense operations.
The performance “underscores Swift Solar’s potential as a key provider of ultra-efficient, next-generation solar solutions for the U.S. government and beyond,” Joel Jean PhD ’17, CEO and one of the company’s six cofounders, said in a press release issued by Swift Solar.
Jean traces his role in founding Swift Solar back to the two years he spent working with 30 solar experts on a MITEI study. The study’s report, The Future of Solar Energy, which was published in 2015, investigated the potential for expanding solar generating capacity to the multi-terawatt scale by mid-century. The study identified perovskites as a promising material for solar innovation. In 2019, Jean and his collaborators founded Swift Solar with one goal: to develop a new class of efficient, lightweight, and flexible solar products based on perovskite semiconductors.
Perovskites are a class of materials that are cheap, abundant, and good at absorbing and emitting light. In addition, they are lightweight and flexible, so far better suited for use in solar cells than the rigid silicon used today. Despite more than a decade of research, perovskite solar technology hasn’t taken off. The team at Swift Solar is intent on making that happen.
Their design uses two layers of perovskite, each of which absorbs a different section of the solar spectrum, thereby increasing efficiency. While other researchers have explored “tandem” perovskite solar cells, most have been stymied by one problem: how to manufacture them. The Swift Solar team uses a proprietary deposition process that’s scalable and reduces the per-unit cost of production.
Swift Solar plans to scale up its U.S. manufacturing capabilities, with commercial production ramping up within 24 months, according to the press release following the DoD exercise. DoD has expressed interest in integrating Swift Solar’s technology within cyber, electromagnetic, and space-based energy missions, and a broad range of industries are partnering with Swift Solar to explore perovskite tandem deployment across utility-scale electricity generation, satellite operations, telecommunications, and mobility.
In late November, Swift Solar also announced a strategic partnership with Eni Plenitude, the renewable energy arm of Eni S.p.A., an Italy-based energy company and a founding member of MITEI. Together, Swift Solar and Eni Plenitude are launching the first phase of a long-term pilot program to validate Swift’s high-efficiency perovskite tandem technology at utility scale—a key milestone on the path toward a potential long-term supply arrangement with Eni Plenitude and commercialization of the perovskite tandem technology.