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Business Minister Pat McFadden unveiled the new research programmes at the India-UK Science and Innovation Council in New Delhi.

Research Councils UK and the Indian Department of Science and Technology will each provide £5 million to carry out the following three-year projects:

• Advancing the efficiency and production of excitonic solar cells – building on existing expertise to develop the materials, structures, processing and panel engineering associated with excitonic solar cells.
• Stability and performance of photvoltaics – improving materials supply and designs to create “cheaper and more efficient” solar devices.

Announcing the plans, Mr McFadden said:

“This major collaboration plays to our strengths, and will maximise our potential to lead the world in high-quality, low-cost solar cell technology.

“As well as helping the UK to meet its 2020 goals, it will complement India's ambitious plans to deploy 20 million solar lighting systems to 10,000 villages and hamlets currently without access to grid electricity.”

The projects will fall under the Research Councils UK’s Energy Programme, an initiative led by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Dr Neil Bateman, energy portfolio manager at EPSRC, claimed:

“The research is targeted to push the science of solar energy towards cheaper, more reliable and sustainable electricity production in wide variety of settings.”

The Energy Programme is also expected to build upon the new solar research projects by launching a further two UK-India collaborations later this year.

One will look to “bridge the urban/rural divide” in both countries, while the other will bring together experts to address challenges in energy storage with fuel cells.

Further details about the research funds will be made available in due course.