15 Photovoltaics Solar Power Innovations You Must See
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 08.22.08
Looking Back at Recent PV Innovations
Energy. The lifeblood of modern civilization. Finding clean sources of it is very high on the green movement's priority list, and one very promising field is solar photovoltaics (PV). We, at TreeHugger, have been covering the field for a while now, and we think it's time to look in the rearview mirror at some of the top PV solar innovations from our archives.
Thin Film Solar Record: 19.9% Efficiency
A shortage of silicon in the past few years and the demand for thin and flexible panels has helped increase the focus on thin film solar recently, and a lot of progress is being made. The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has created thin film solar panels that are very close to competing with their more traditional silicon-based cousins. "The copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cell recently reached 19.9 percent efficiency in testing at the lab, setting a new world record."
CoolEarth Inflatable Solar Balloons
Solar photovoltaic cells are still relatively expensive, so many companies are trying to find ways to reduce the PV surface area that they use. One way to do that is to use concentrators to direct more sunlight to smaller (but usually more efficient) solar panels. But even if you do that, you still have high costs for support materials and the concentrators themselves.That's the problems that CoolEarth is trying to solve with its inflatable solar collectors. The balloons themselves are said to be 400 times cheaper than a concentrator of the same size made of polished aluminum, and they can be mounted on wires, reducing costs further. Maintenance is also easier: You can repair them with tape, and replace one unit in about 15 minutes. Read on for more details and a promo video.
Sunrgi Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics: Solar Power Competitive With Fossil Fuels?
Sunrgi recently made an impressive claim: They say that their system will soon be able to "produce electricity at a wholesale cost of 5 cents per kWh (kilowatt hour)." (!) They do it by concentrating the Sun's light close to 2,000 times (!!!) into extremely efficient solar photovoltaic cells. Part of Sunrgi's patent-pending technology has to do with the cooling of the solar cells, dual-axis sun tracking, and the way the whole system is optimized for mass-production. Find out more about it in our post about Sunrgi's concentrated solar power.
'Hairy' Thin Film Solar Panels Using Nanowires
We often hear about new exotic materials and strange shapes, but this could be the weirdest announcement yet: Researchers at McMaster University (coolest name ever) have succeeded in 'growing' light-absorbing nanowires made of high-performance photovoltaic materials on carbon-nanotube fabric. In other words, hairy solar panels.The aim is to produce flexible, affordable solar cells that, within five years, will achieve a conversion efficiency of 20%. Longer term, it's theoretically possible to achieve 40% efficiency!
Moth Eyes Biomimicry for Solar Panels
Silicon is reflective, so a lot of light that could be turned into electricity is bounced back and lost. Anti-reflective coating is used, but its effectiveness is limited and it has downsides too. So while looking for a solution, researchers noticed that moths have very non-reflective eyes ("most likely an evolutionary defense against nocturnal predators"). The moth-eye process creates panels that reflect less than 2% of light. That's a vast improvement over the 35 to 40% reflection rate seen without the anti-reflection coating layers.More solar power innovations on page 2!
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I want one of these nanosolar printing machines for my basement :)
Even better --> Pizza Oven + Nail Polish + InkJet Printer = iJet Solar cell
Delivered by ( pun intended ) Nicole Kuepper PhD student and lecturer in the school of photovoltaic and renewable energy engineering at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
I already sent the tip into treehugger -- hopefully someone posts the story soon.
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MGR: Yet, got your tip, working on it. Thanks!
Anyone who has played SimCity 2000 knows how Japan's space solar experiment will end.
Thank goodness for MIT and McMaster Universities.
I hope we're not too far from the day when every new building in the sun belt will be required to have a solar roof.
...just around the corner...
Wake me when I can buy it for my roof and it's less than current panels. 200 Watts is around $900/panel. You need a minimum of about 2KW to make a dent in anyone's electric bill. 10 panels is about $9000 plus the inverter, wiring, permit, installation, mounts, tax, etc...
I can't tell you how many times I've checked the prices.
If it was half price now, utilities would get the first contracts and maybe in a decade it would filter down to the general public.
The concentrated panels are very sensitive to being off axis. Without a controller they'll be nearly useless. Something else to break.
Our system includes 12 Evergreen panels (8-110w, 4-115w). It provides all the power we need plus extra that could go back into the grid if we lived on the grid. The system works great. These things should be everywhere. When you compare these to the real costs of burning coal, splitting atoms and fighting oil wars, solar cells are a real bargain. Our total cost was about $15,000 (batteries included).
Our system includes 12 Evergreen panels (8-110w, 4-115w). It provides all the power we need plus extra that could go back into the grid if we lived on the grid. The system works great. These things should be everywhere. When you compare these to the real costs of burning coal, splitting atoms and fighting oil wars, solar cells are a real bargain. Our total cost was about $15,000 (batteries included).
where's the dye sensitised solar cell?
they are being manufactued in Wales.
solar power information is very nice. this critical time of 100 months all countrys are must and should use solar power.
I've seen the after market solar panels they make for the Prius, but when are we going to be able to run our cars on solar power only? Anyone hear of anything coming out in the next decade?
Concentrating solar energy could involve multiple streams of enery at one time. The setup could generate both electricity and heat. The heat could be used for heating/hot water or turbine generated electricy.
This is much the way electrical generation sometimes produces steam that is used for heating.
Mmmm... maybe it's an idea to fund from the Paulson-bail out money solar research or tax breaks for solar pannels or intrest-free-loans to install solar panels... then neither Iraq is problem!