16.02.2026 Historical and Future Learning for the New Era of Multi-Terawatt Photovoltaics

Alberi, K., Peters, I.M., Verlinden, P. et al.

A new era is dawning for photovoltaics, with a global installed capacity of several terawatts (TW). Already 2 TW (=2000 GW) have been installed, and some scenarios predict up to 75 TW by 2050. Together with a global group of researchers, we have analyzed the success factors behind this rapid historical development: mutually reinforcing processes of technological learning, cost reduction, higher efficiency, greater durability, and exponential growth. For the future, it is now important to continue these development trends and focus on further reductions in material and energy consumption, as well as recycling concepts. The paper “Historical and future learning for the new era of multi-terawatt photovoltaics” was published in Nature Energy. DOI: 0.1038/s41560-025-01929-z

 Alberi, K., Peters, I.M., Verlinden, P. et al. Historical and future learning for the new era of multi-terawatt photovoltaics. Nat Energy 11, 38–46 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01929-z