Comment by dredmorbius

Pretty much agreed on that, and I haven't followed the perovskites discussion closely enough to know where it falls on that basis. I have been aware of the technology vaguely for a decade or so.

The raw material itself is CaTiO₃,[1] which are three fairly abundant elements, though how that compares with sufficiently pure silica isn't clear to me. My general feeling (from what I've read and experience with other strongly-promoted energy alternatives) is that applications are more likely to be niche, where conditions specifically favour perovskites' specific advantages.

Those seem to be greater incident sunlight conversion efficiencies (~30% vs. 15--20% more typical of silicon PV, which is often less significant than might at first be apparent), and potentially lower manufacturing costs. As is noted in the discussion, panel cost itself is increasingly dwarfed by less-fungible labour and infrastructure costs (e.g., physical support, see <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perovskite_(structure)>