Third Generation Photovoltaics: Assessment of progress over the last decade

It has now been a decade since the term ¿third generation photovoltaics¿ was coined as part of a new research initiative from the author's group. The basic premise was that, given unavoidable costs of encapsulants and mounting structures, energy conversion efficiency must determine the ultimate cost of photovoltaics and hence the likely extent of its adoption. A program was launched with the aim of accelerating the development of high efficiency cell conversion approaches consistent with the use of thin-film, abundant, non-toxic and durable materials. A decade since the program's conception, progress and lessons learnt are reviewed.