Government awards S$11m research grants for clean energy

The grant call was focused on new manufacturing processes and technologies for silicon wafer-based solar wafers, cells, and modules.

The Energy Innovation Programme Office, formerly known as the Clean Energy Programme Office, announced the award of research grants totalling about S$11 million to 5 research teams under the fifth grant call of the Clean Energy Research Programme.

The 5 research proposals awarded funding in this latest call of CERP are: a) Development of hybrid heterojunction silicon wafer solar cells (H2 Cells) (SERIS, National University of Singapore); b) Development and industrialisation of low-cost, high-power back-contact module using high efficiency metal wrap through (MVT) solar cells (Renewable Energy Corporation, Singapore); c) Integrated framing system for crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules (SERIS, National University of Singapore); d) Ultrafast atomic layer deposition for cost-efficient high-efficiency silicon wafer solar cells (SERIS, National University of Singapore); and e) CIGS solar cells and mini-module: Establishment of an R&D pilot line in Singapore and research into cadmium-free heterojunction window layers (Nanyang Technological University).

The CERP was launched by EIPO in 2007 to accelerate research and development efforts to help drive the growth of the Clean Energy industry in Singapore. This S$50 million initiative supports both upstream and downstream commercially-relevant R&D efforts through a competitive project funding approach.