Comparative Techno-Economic Analysis of Si, GaAs, and InGaN Thin-Film Solar Cells under Bangladesh’s Climatic Conditions

The performance of photovoltaic (PV) systems is influenced by operating temperature, especially in Bangladesh’s tropical climate. This study presents a comparative numerical investigation of Si, GaAs, and InGaN p-i-n thin-film solar cells using site-specific meteorological data. Temperature-dependent photovoltaic characteristics were investigated using SCAPS-1D simulation software. Quantum efficiency (QE) and spectral response (SR) were evaluated to characterize optical absorption performance across the AM1.5G solar spectrum. GaAs achieves the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 23.61% due to its superior thermal stability. InGaN demonstrates potential for high-temperature environments, yielding the highest open-circuit voltage and a stable fill factor due to its wide tunable bandgap. In contrast, silicon exhibited the highest thermal sensitivity and the lowest PCE (10.51%) due to the lower light absorption of the thin absorber layer. Furthermore, economic feasibility assessment using RETScreen for a proposed 10 MW utility-scale power plant revealed that GaAs-based system requires the smallest solar collector area (41,391 m²) and generates 16,530.91 MWh annually at the lowest cost of electricity ($0.0777/kWh). In contrast, the silicon-based system requires the largest collector area and incurs the highest energy production cost.