TEA at SUNRISE

TEA at SUNRISE will enable sustainable, affordable solar PV to be manufactured locally in countries in Africa, Asia, and the Indo-Pacific.

Building on the pre-existing SUNRISE network, the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) at SUNRISE project is a collaboration between the UK and countries in Africa, Asia, and the Indo-Pacific. To support an equitable and just energy transition, the project will form an interdisciplinary network capable of identifying and delivering opportunities for next-generation solar.

TEA at SUNRISE is part of the Transforming Energy Access platform funded by UK aid from the UK Government to support the technologies, business models and skills needed to enable an inclusive, clean energy transition.

PV has become one of the fastest growing energy technologies worldwide. However silicon PV, which currently dominates the market, faces limitations. The manufacturing process needs a hefty initial investment, and consumes substantial amounts of critical materials and energy. Current manufacturing is also located far from where the rapidly emerging economies of the Global South require energy, creating logistical challenges.

New materials such as perovskites present an opportunity to bring PV manufacturing much closer to its point of use. Local manufacturing could reduce logistics costs, create jobs, and use lower-carbon sources of energy. This next-generation of materials also offers a unique opportunity to design for ease of re-use and re-manufacture from the outset.

To get in touch about this project, contact Dr Mark Spratt.

Follow SUNRISE social media for updates about this project:

Researchers from Prof Satish Patil’s group at IISc Bangalore installing a solar-powered micro-grid at a school in Tamilnadu, India, as part of the SUNRISE project.
Researchers from SPECIFIC and CINVESTAV Merida holding printed carbon perovskite solar cells.
An example of next-generation PV: fully roll-to-roll printed perovskite solar cells developed at SPECIFIC IKC.
Honore Basazababo of Great Lakes Energy Ltd holding a non-glass silicon solar module. The module was being installed as part of an Innovate UK Energy Catalyst project with Solapak Development Ltd and Heifer International to improve energy access at a Milk Collection Centre in Kigali, Rwanda.

About Transforming Energy Access (TEA)

Transforming Energy Access (TEA) is the flagship FCDO research and innovation programme supporting early-stage testing and scale-up of innovative technologies and business models that accelerate access to affordable, clean energy for poor households, enterprises, and social institutions in developing countries across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Indo-Pacific. This includes support to innovations across the three Ayrton Fund themes of clean supply, super-efficient demand and smart delivery, as well as integration of solutions across the three. In late 2021, a £126m scale-up of the platform was announced at COP26, further advancing TEA into a major delivery platform for the Ayrton Fund focused on delivering innovations enabling a Just Transition for the 733 million people who still lack access to electricity and the 2.4 billion people who cook using fuels detrimental to their health and the environment.