The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) said this week it plans to work with leading US solar companies and universities to commercialize perovskite photo voltaics. This represents an attempt to catch up a European leadership in Perovskite research. Departments at the University of Washington, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Toledo will join together to form the US Manufacturing of Advanced Perovskites Consortium (US-MAP). US-MAP has the advantage of already lining up six US industry players including BlueDot Photonics, Energy Materials Corporation, First Solar, Hunt Perovskites Technologies, Swift Solar, and Tandem PV. First Solar with revenues of over $3 billion last year, certainly has the financial clout to go toe to toe with…