NewNergy

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has built its reputation on printers, PCs and other tech gear. Now it's lending a hand to a much different industry: solar.

HP had a recent announcement that it will license technology it co-developed with Oregon State University to solar startup Xtreme Energetics, which hopes to launch its first products in two years. The HP technology will help grab the sun's rays for solar panels in a way that could generate electricity at twice the efficiency and half the cost of traditional solar panels, the companies say.

Labels: computers, efficiency, solar

Enphase Energy, a solar panel start-up which has recently acquired $6.5 million in funding, has introduced a new kind of solar panel system. In conventional solar arrays, inverters are separate entities from the solar panels, usually hung somewhere at a distance. This system by Emphase, however, integrates a "microinverter" onto the solar installation, allowing conversion of direct current to alternating current right on the panels themselves. Doing so will reportedly yield a more efficient system.

More from here - Enphase Energy Intros Solar Panel System with Microinverter

Labels: solar

Physicist Bram Hoex and colleagues at Eindhoven University of Technology, together with the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, have developed a process that improves the energy produced by solar panels by six per cent (in relative terms), a new world record in solar cell efficiency.

By using an ultra-thin aluminium oxide layer at the front of the solar cell, Hoex was able to improve the cell’s conversion of sunlight into energy from 21.9 per cent to 23.2 per cent. The record breaking technology was showcased in the USA at a major solar power convention.

More from here - Solar Panels – World Record Breakthrough in Cell Efficiency

Labels: efficiency, solar

Researchers in Australia have produced highly efficient miniature crystals -- a breakthrough which they claim can soon revolutionise the way people harvest and use solar energy.

Lead researcher Professor Max Lu from the University of Queensland said they were one step closer to the holy grail of cost-effective solar energy with their discovery.

"The beauty of our technique is that it is very simple and cheap to make such materials at mild conditions. Now that the research has elucidated the conditions required, the method is like cooking in an oven and the crystals can be applied like paints," the 'Nature' quoted Lu as saying.

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Labels: costs, efficiency, solar

Global Solar Energy, a solar industry leader that manufactures highly-efficient thin-film solar cells for glass modules or flexible material products, today announced a major breakthrough for silicon module and Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) manufacturers looking to quickly and efficiently incorporate thin-film technology into their manufacturing processes.

Global Solar’s new PowerFlex Solar Strings provide a pre-connected format to its Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide (CIGS) cells that makes it easy for product designers and module manufactures to quickly and easily benefit from the low cost, high efficiency and flexible nature of CIGS.

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Labels: solar

Germany is again making news in the solar field with the announcement of the industry’s first ever Gen 8.5 (5.7 m^2 ) silicon thin film solar PV module at Signet Solar’s new factory near Dresden. The accomplishment at the company's 200,000 square foot production facility and is another step towards lowering the cost of renewable solar energy through thin film technology.

Signet Solar says it has lowered the production cost of photovoltaic (PV) modules by combining silicon thin film technology with very large area manufacturing and an industry standard equipment set. The initial modules from the new manufacturing line met the specification of the product and were confirmed by independent testing by Fraunhofer Institute. Signet will start prototype production in early June and will showcase the Gen 8.5 module product line at the Intersolar Conference in Munich. Commercial production will start in the third quarter of 2008, with capacity expansion to over 100MW at the same site expected by 2009.

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Labels: costs, solar

Two Japanese companies, Mitsubishi Chemicals and Sumitomo Chemical, are working on spreadable electronics, an idea that has nothing to do with margarine and everything to do with potentially making electronics that doesn't have to be plugged in.

The molecular soup mixture would have organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and solar cell building blocs that can be spread or even sprayed like paint in an ultra-thin layer that is only 100 nm thick. By combining both technologies, it may be possible to have displays on the market that don't even have to be plugged in but charged using solar panels. The companies even say it could be sprayed onto the back of cell phones to charge up the device.

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Labels: inventions, solar

Biosolar’s a toddler chronologically just turned two years old in April. But they’re already publicly traded and they could stand tall in the expanding field of photovolataics, making electricity from the sun. The firm is based in Santa Clarita in Southern California, so they know about sunlight. And their CEO/President, Dr. David Lee, knows a bit about the current components of standard photovoltaic panels. And he expects his company to soon begin contributing to better, greener panels.

Biosolar’s goal: to replace all the petroleum-based materials and glass coatings now used in current photovoltaic cells. Dr. Lee explained that up to 25% of the cost of any current solar panel is actually taken up with the coatings, front and back, portions not used to generate electricity. Portions that currently are made from petroleum, or glass, not renewable resources.

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Labels: environment, solar

For a long time it has seemed that affordable solar panels were not going to happen in the foreseeable future; however, a breakthrough from the HelioVolt Corporation has raised the possibility that we just might. HelioVolt has managed to produce thin film solar panels with a 12.2% conversion rate.

More from here here

Labels: solar

As a child, you might have used magnifying lenses to focus sun's rays onto anything you wanted to burn. Even if you haven't, you'd be well aware that it's possible to do so. IBM takes it to a whole new level and used a magnifying glass to significantly improve solar energy output.

According to test results, IBM was able to capture 230 watts of energy on just one centime of solar cell which would then be converted to 70 watts of usable electricity. That is FIVE times the usual output of typical PVs. So, if just a small surface area could generate electricity which could power whole structures, for example, this means there'd be a decrease in the needed quantity of photovoltaics, thereby lessening installation costs.

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Labels: efficiency, inventions, solar

Physicist Bram Hoex and colleagues at Eindhoven University of Technology, together with the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, have developed a process that improves the energy produced by solar panels by six per cent (in relative terms), a new world record in solar cell efficiency.

By using an ultra-thin aluminium oxide layer at the front of the solar cell, Hoex was able to improve the cell’s conversion of sunlight into energy from 21.9 per cent to 23.2 per cent. The record breaking technology was showcased in the USA at a major solar power convention.An improvement of more than 1 per cent (in absolute terms) may at first glance appear modest, but it can enable solar cell manufacturers to greatly increase the performance of their products.

The ultra-thin (about 30 nanometers) aluminium oxide film contains unprecedented high levels of built-in negative charges, preventing the significant energy losses that usually escape from the surface of solar cell arrays during the day.

Full report from here

Labels: efficiency, solar

A new combination of nano and solar technology has made it possible for solar electric generation to be cheaper than burning coal. Nanosolar, Inc. has developed a way to produce a type of ink that absorbs solar radiation and converts into electric current. Photovoltaic (PV) sheets are produced by a machine similar to a printing press, which rolls out the PV ink onto sheets approximately the width of aluminum foil. These PV sheets can be produced at a rate of hundreds of feet per minute.

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Labels: coal, costs, electricity, solar

Whenever we speak about solar energy, most times we refer to the photovoltaic energy - the light energy from the sun that is converted to electricity. But the sun also provides heat energy. And this where solar thermal makes its appearance.

Unlike photovoltaic solar panels that convert sunlight to electricity, solar thermal focuses sun rays with mirrors to heat oil in glass pipes to about 700 degrees Fahrenheit (370 degrees Celsius). The oil turns water to steam, which spins an electric turbine.

Solar thermal is not exactly new. Nine solar-thermal plants built in the California desert from 1985 to 1991 still operate, with FPL Group running seven. They have combined capacity of 354 megawatts, enough to power 230,000 Southern California homes. But it is getting renewed attention from some biggies from different fields - Oil & Gas (Chevron), Finance (Goldman Sachs) & Technology (Google - by the way, just what else is Google upto?).

Costs for solar thermal may fall as low as 3.5 cents a kilowatt hour by 2020, according to a report commissioned by the U.S. Energy Department. Meanwhile, coal expenses may rise. Google, Chevron and Goldman Sachs are betting this energy will become cheaper than coal.

Many of the bets of Google and Goldman Sachs have worked out rather well. Will this one too?

Source: Seattle Times

Labels: solar

It's been one of the ironies in the energy equation - we have the energy from the sun all around us, many times more than what all of together on earth require, yet capturing and utilising that energy has been much more difficult and costly than one would like.

This has not stopped the solariphiles from looking forward to the day when the sun will power most of, or all, our energy needs.

Well, while that day might still be far off for most of the world, it already has arrived for a small village in South Korea. This village has achieved what even the most powerful countries in the world are still struggling to accomplish: total energy independence with clean technology.




Donggwang is a village on the western half of the island Jeju-do in South Korea. On the roof of each of the 40 houses in Donggwang lies a large beds of solar panels. And this includes even the small, local elementary school!

A typical house roof in the village has a two kilowatt solar installation. The photovoltaic panels thus fitted produce enough energy to power the entire area.
Now the important question is, how much of this success is translatable to the rest of the world? Are there some specific advantages that this tiny South Korean village has that has facilitated it to become 100% solar? I could not see anything unique about this village, so there is hope that this is replicable. We however have to keep in mind that this is a small village - they are talking about 40 houses in all, certainly small by any standards!

One piece of info gleaned from the articles could provide a hint: "In 2004, the government helped to install solar systems in Donggwang, paying 70% of the installation fees." Now, this could indeed be a great help as it is well known that installation costs for solar could in fact be a major stumbling block to its widespread adoption.

While we spend our time analysing whether this small success could lead to a big leap for solar energy adoption in the rest of the world, hats off to Donggwang for showing us the light at the end of the tunnel, to use a pun!

Sources & Image Credits: Ecoworldly, Metaefficient

Labels: solar

Scientists have invented a plastic solar cell that can turn the sun's power into electrical energy, even on a cloudy day.

The plastic material uses nanotechnology and contains the first solar cells able to harness the sun's invisible, infrared rays. The breakthrough has led theorists to predict that plastic solar cells could one day become five times more efficient than current solar cell technology.

Like paint, the composite can be sprayed onto other materials and used as portable electricity. A sweater coated in the material could power a cell phone or other wireless devices. A hydrogen-powered car painted with the film could potentially convert enough energy into electricity to continually recharge the car's battery.

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Labels: solar

Researchers at McMaster University (coolest name ever) have succeeded in 'growing' light-absorbing nanowires made of high-performance photovoltaic materials on carbon-nanotube fabric. The nanowires are made from exotic materials like gallium arsenide, indium gallium phosphide, etc, and they can absorb more energy from the sun than silicon, allowing the creation of both efficient and flexible solar panels.

The aim is to produce flexible, affordable solar cells composed of Group III-V nanowires that, within five years, will achieve a conversion efficiency of 20 percent. Longer term, it's theoretically possible to achieve 40 percent efficiency, given the superior ability of such materials to absorb energy from sunlight and the light-trapping nature of nanowire structures. By comparison, current thin-film technologies offer efficiencies of between 6 and 9 percent.

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Labels: efficiency, solar

A breakthrough barrier technology from Singapore A*STAR's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) protects sensitive devices like organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and solar cells from moisture 1000 times more effectively than any other technology available in the market, opening up new opportunities for the up-and-coming plastic electronics sector.


A team of scientists from Singapore's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) has developed a new patented film that has the highest reported water vapour barrier performance to date, as tested by the UK Centre for Process Innovation.


The tests have shown that the new film is 1,000 times more impervious to moisture than existing technologies. This means a longer lifetime for plastic electronic devices such as solar cells and flexible displays that use these high-end films but whose sensitive organic materials are easily degraded by water vapour and oxygen.

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Labels: solar

A new approach is able to create a dramatic improvement in cheap solar cells now being developed in laboratories

By using a popcorn-ball design -- tiny kernels clumped into much larger porous spheres -- researchers at the University of Washington are able to manipulate light and more than double the efficiency of converting solar energy to electricity. The findings were presented in New Orleans at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society April 10.

Dye-sensitized solar cells, first popularized in a scientific article in 1991, are more flexible, easier to manufacture and cheaper than existing solar technologies. Researchers have tried various rough surfaces and achieved higher and higher efficiencies. Current lab prototypes can convert just over one tenth of the incoming sun's energy into electricity. This is about half as efficient as the commercial, silicon-based cells used in rooftop panels and calculators.

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Labels: efficiency, solar

The SUNRGI solar system uses a special lens to magnify sunlight more than 1,600 times to produce a very bright, powerful, focused spot of light

A new patents pending solar energy system will soon make it possible to produce electricity at a wholesale cost of 5 cents per kWh (kilowatt hour).

This price is competitive with the wholesale cost of producing electricity using fossil fuels and a fraction of the current cost of solar energy.

XCPV (Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics), a system that concentrates the equivalent of more than 1,600 times the sun s energy onto the world s most efficient solar cells, was announced today by SUNRGI, a solar energy system designer and developer, at the National Energy Marketers Association s 11th Annual Global Energy Forum in Washington, DC.

The technology will enable power companies, businesses, and residents to produce electricity from solar energy at a lower cost than ever before

Ref: SunRGI, see also this article

Labels: electricity, solar

Scientists at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel claim they have found a way to construct efficient photovoltaic cells costing at least a hundred times less than conventional silicon based devices, and with similar or better energy conversion efficiency. The reactive element in the researchers' patent pending device is genetically engineered proteins using photosynthesis for production of electrical energy.

The scientists applied genetic engineering and nanotechnology for the construction of a hybrid nano -- bio, solid state device. According to the researchers, although using photosynthesis for photovoltaic application is not new, their specific technique is the first to enable the production of useful photosynthesis-based photovoltaic cells.

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Labels: solar

Solar power, the holy grail of renewable energy, has always faced the problem of how to store the energy captured from the sun’s rays so that demand for electricity can be met at night or whenever the sun is not shining. The difficulty is that electricity is hard to store. Batteries are not up to efficiently storing energy on a large scale.

The idea is to capture the sun’s heat. Heat, unlike electric current, is something that industry knows how to store cost-effectively. Solar thermal systems are built to gather heat from the sun, boil water into steam, spin a turbine and make power, as existing solar thermal power plants do — but not immediately. The heat would be stored for hours or even days, like water behind a dam.

Ausra, of Palo Alto, Calif., is making components for plants to which thermal storage could be added, if the cost were justified by higher prices after sunset or for production that could be realistically promised even if the weather forecast was iffy. Ausra uses Fresnel lenses, which have a short focal length but focus light intensely, to heat miles of black-painted pipe with a fluid inside. A competitor a step behind in signing contracts, but with major corporate backing, plans a slightly different technique in which adding storage seems almost trivial. It is a “power tower,” a little bit like a water tank on stilts surrounded by hundreds of mirrors that tilt on two axes, one to follow the sun across the sky in the course of the day and the other in the course of the year. In the tower and in a tank below are tens of thousands of gallons of molten salt that can be heated to very high temperatures and not reach high pressure.

Labels: electricity, solar

Environment Friendly Solar Water Fountains

Do you have a spot in your yard, patio, or porch where you could place a beautiful fountain that adds to your relaxation and the landscape of your property? Environmentally friendly solar water fountains run free of charge, courtesy of the sun of course! There is no tricky electrical system, or wiring that you need to run, just a solar panel, pump, and the fountain.

Read more from this post and see a nice illustration @ Energy Refuge

Labels: environment, solar

One of the Largest Solar Power Plants in Portugal

Apr 04, 2007

Near the city of Lisbon, Portugal is one of the world's largest solar power plants. Presntly in the process of starting up, the power plant places Portugal in the lead on solar-electric generation.

The 11 Megawatt power plant was built by Berkeley based Powerlight, and financed by GE Energy Financial Services.

Read more from this brief post from I Want Clean Air

Labels: solar

Thin Solar Films as Sun Power Alternative

Many of the photo-voltaic technologies are dependent on semiconductor crystalline silicon type materials, and these are relatively costly for mass production.

However, there is a possibility that thin solar film option will make major breakthroughs in a couple of years. The cost of these thin solar films by then will have decreased to a more affordable level, hopes this post.

That said however, the present economic aspect of producing them would not allow most European solar companies into focusing on this new solar technology, feels the author of the post.

Read more from this blog post @ My Solar Panel blog

Labels: solar

Higher Air conditioner efficiency using solar power

You may have probably heard of Solar Air Conditioner. It can produce cooling effect by absorbing heat from Sunlight. Normally, these types of ACs are absorption type refrigeration systems using Ammonia cycle, salt and vapor pressure stuff. But these are still limited to research labs with few commercial applications.

In this post the author talks about using electricity (from solar) to get some extra points of efficiency from your existing AC.

Interesting post, read more from here @ A Sun Energy World

Labels: efficiency, inventions, research, solar

Indian Govt banks on solar, wind energy to bridge power gap

Times News Network, Apr 26, 2007

NEW DELHI: The Indian government will shortly evolve a feed-in tariff system for wind, solar and other non-conventional sources of energy. This was stated by V Subramanian, secretary at the ministry of new and renewable energy (MoNRE) on Wednesday. Under the feed-in tariff system, solar and wind energy generators will transmit their energy to government-owned grids and help them supply power to starved locations.

Read the full news report from here @ Economic Times

Labels: solar, wind

UAE looks to tap the sun for solar energy

Apr 2007

Masdar has announced plans to build a $ 350 million 100-MW solar plant

Abu Dhabi - The UAE is still sitting on huge reserves of oil and natural gas, but now it plans to harness yet another of its abundant natural resources – the year-round sunshine.

In the vast desert surrounding the capital Abu Dhabi, the authorities are planning to spread arrays of solar panels to transform the blazing sun into energy.
The plan may be expensive, but the handsome surpluses currently earned from oil revenues can cover the cost.

Read the full report from here @ The Emirates Evening Post

Labels: solar

Let's get real about alternative energy

Henry E. Payne, Apr 2007

Wind power is intermittent. Wind and sun only run 8 to 9 hours a day.

Solar energy, with possibilities of up to 30 percent capacity factor, produced only 541,000 megawatt-hours of electricity in 2005. The subsidies for solar power are many times that for wind power simply...The capital cost of equivalent coal or nuclear generating plants is far less than the "alternative power" schemes.

These two (solar & wind) energy sources provided less than .4 percent of all the electricity generated in the U.S. for 2005.

Read more on Henry Payne's take on alternative energy from this interesting article @ Charleston Daily Mail

Labels: solar, wind

MOL Group Terminal Introduces Tokyo's Largest Private Solar Power System, First at a Container Terminal in Japan

Tokyo, Japan, Mar 26, 2007 - (JCN Newswire) - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (TSE: 9104) today announced that the solar power generation system at Ohi Container Terminal Berth No.4 started operation in March. The system is called the Tokyo International Container Terminal Solar Power Station.

Read the full news report here @ Japan Corp

Labels: solar

Pros and cons of solar power

24 Mar 2007

Vicki Vaughan, Express-News Business Writer - My San Antonio

In this article, the author discusses the pros and cons of solar energy.

One interesting concept discussed is "net metering". If, for instance, you instal solar panels and if you do not have batteries to store excess power, on some days the extra energy being generated by the solar panel can be fed being fed back into the electric grid, thus making a meter "run backward." Known as "net metering," customers who produce electricity at home (or their business) using renewable sources such as solar and wind get credit for any excess power they put back into the Energy grid.

But solar energy is not without its pitfalls, the main issue being cost, says this article.

Read the full article from here @ My San Antonio

Labels: costs, solar

Tatas to invest 100 million dollars in Bangalore solar project

By K G Vasuki, Mar 26, 2007

Bangalore: For power hungry India, a non-conventional energy source like solar power is proving to be a boom.

India's leading solar energy solution providers Tata BP Solar recently inaugurated the new mega solar power plant on the outskirts of Bangalore said they and would invest 100 million dollars in it.

Read the full report here @ Daily India

Labels: solar

Solar Panels for Municipal Watre Treatment Plant

A municipal water treatment plant in La Mesa, Calif., near San Diego, has installed enough solar panels to generate 20 percent of the electricity that it uses. The move is part of a greater effort by local city governments to produce more energy from renewable sources.

Labels: solar

The Government will earmark Sk100 million for solar energy

Slovak Economy Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek wants to submit a proposal, through which homes that decide to buy solar panels will be entitled to state subsidies.

Homes in Austria and the Czech Republic have been receiving such subsidies for several years already.

The Economy Ministry thinks solar energy has the biggest potential out of all renewable energy sources in Slovakia.

Labels: solar